The Malaysia Model - Najib Razak

Recovery, Malaysia-Style. (The Star, 19 March 2009)

I was pleasantly surprise to see Dato Seri Najib's article in The Star today that it took me a while just to stare at the page. For a moment I thought The Star is giving the UMNO President-elect a new space in the paper. But no, the article first appeared in Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. It was also translated in Malay in today's Utusan Malaysia - Tukar Cakap Jadi Perbuatan (The headline sounds rather odd to me)

I have always believed that to be a political leader, one must also be a thinker. And to be a good leader one must know how to articulate his/her ideas well not only in the form of fiery speeches, but also in writing. 21st century is the age of information and knowledge, and politics in this era is about politics of ideas. This is the era of information warfare. Should one fail to get a hold of these, it means that one(read: aspiring politician) is simply not good enough.

To be frank, this is one area where Khairy Jamaluddin has clear advantage over the other Ketua Pemuda UMNO contenders; Mukhriz Mahathir and Khir Toyo. And this is the one area where Ali Rustam lack the most. It's a good thing that he has been disqualified from contesting, seriously.

My Professor once said that it's easy for one to be a political commentator, anybody can do it; from taxi drivers to kaki lepak tepi jalan and so on. But the difference between them and a thinker or at least a 'wannabe thinker' is that, the latter writes. It is of no use if one have tonnes of brilliant ideas, but not being put into writing or something tangible.
Well, I hope this is not the first and last of Najib's article. :p