KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said, in facing of the challenges of this day, the country needs a leadership team in the party and Cabinet that has a similar and strong direction with mutual trust. He said as such when they all the institutions together with the country’s leadership, they can move even faster and more confidently to meet all the objectives of our struggle.
He said this in the Selamat Pagi 1Malaysia exclusive programme titled “Mengenang Tun Razak” (Remembering Tun Razak) aired live here Thursday. Najib said this when asked if he wanted a good team and undivided support of the Cabinet and people as was the case of his late father Tun Abdul Razak when he was Malaysia’s second Prime Minister from Sept 22, 1970 until his death on Jan 14, 1976 due to leukemia at the age of 53 years.
Abdul Razak took over the premiership from Tunku Abdul Rahman when the country had just recovered from a state of emergency after the tragedy of racial riots on May 13, 1969. Touching on his father’s aspirations and struggles for Malaysia, Najib said Abdul Razak wanted big changes for the country and did not want to see the people struggling in poverty and wanted it to be on par with developed countries.
“Even in his 1976 New Year address, Abdul Razak was confident that if the 12 million Malaysians at that time was united and determined to live in peace and freedom, no power anywhere can resist the will and wishes of the people, which is relevant until now,” he said.
“The principle of his struggle is not outdated. Our struggle is still far and takes a long time,” he said, adding that it was important for the later generations to continue the struggle that had been initiated by former leaders which was started by the first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, Abdul Razak and so on.
“We bring our country towards greater success, thats the best way for us to remember our past leaders who had contributed so much for us. We develop what they have built, we bring it to a higher level. Meanwhile, I would also like to recalled that my late father was a leader who talked less but worked hard and was very productive,” Najib said.
He said Abdul Razak was not like certain leaders who made all kinds of statements at every opportunity. He said Abdul Razak focused more on results and action and, as such, he left behind many legacies. Touching on a four-verse poem by Abdul Razak who reminded the country’s administrative officers to be vigilant against the country’s enemies who could destroy the nation and caused the people to suffer, Najib said the communists were the main threat during his father’s time.
“Nowadays it is the threat of extreme ideologies such as violence, extremism, terrorism and so forth. So we must safeguard our country from various angles. This is because the process of nation-building takes a long time and not one generation but include several generations and the process of nation- building that began since the time of Tunku Abdul Rahman is not completed until now,” said the prime minister.
“Strengthening of identity, national unity, national integration is a long journey, and it’s important for us to continue cultivate understanding, instill basic values or core values in society such as moderation, mutual respect and so on. This I think we must emphasise so that Malaysia will become a truly developed country,” he added.
Touching on political challenges, Najib said there was a stark contrast in political challenges during his father’s time and his time with the existence of changes in internet technology and social media. Despite good public support for him, he said the people were now being misled especially by social media.
“During my father’s time, if we want to slander or anything like that, we use anonymous letters. So the spread of poison pen letter is limited. Now, we already can spread slander at the tip of our fingertips, so we see that the situation can be confusing in such a short time,” he said.
Najib also shared his story when he was together with his late father, whom he called “daddy” and described Abdul Razak as a firm but loving person to his family.
“Meanwhile, I would also like to shared my story when I was together with my late father, whom I called ‘daddy’ and described Abdul Razak as a firm but loving person to my family. Many events are still etched in my memory, what I see is love to us even though, for instance, I was in boarding school, when I sent a letter, within a week or two, he replied without fail… I see this as a sign of affection of a father to his child,” he added.
