Contender 1 Najib Razak

BORN in July 23, 1953, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is the eldest son of Malaysia’s second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein and nephew to the third prime minister, Tun Hussein Onn. From family ties alone, Najib has big shoes to fill. With his rise to premiership during a period when Barisan Nasional (BN) was faced with its worst performance ever in the 2008 general election, Najib, one could say, has his work cut out for him. In between dodging allegations linking him to the murder of a Mongolian woman, his wife Datin Seri Paduka Rosmah Mansor’s million-ringgit diamond ring fiasco and questionable submarine deal, Najib, since taking the helm on April 3, 2009, from then prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has managed to project himself to be a worthy leader of Malaysia by introducing changes and programmes never-before-seen during the previous administrations. His critics may say that he did not ‘earn’ the mandate to lead, and that he had simply took over the helm from Abdullah. But one should remember that in 2008, Najib did win with a majority of 26,464 votes – the largest for any BN candidate despite the poor overall result. Looking back, Najib is after all not new in politics, he plunged into the game quite early after the passing of his father in 1976. At the age of 22, he was made the country’s youngest Member of Parliament, appointed by the Pekan folk. Three years later, he was assigned into the Cabinet, becoming the Energy, Telecommunications and Post deputy minister – the youngest deputy minister in the country. Between 1982 and 1986, Najib returned to Pahang as the Menteri Besar and again, holds the record for the youngest state chief minister in the country. After returning as Pekan MP in the 1986 poll, he held a variety of ministerial portfolios from culture and sports minister, to finance, education, defence and later deputy prime minister. On the first day as the sixth PM, Najib made it a point to improve domestic economic issues and political reform. He also announced the removal of bans on two opposition newspapers, Suara Keadilan and Harakahdaily, run by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Pan Islamic Party (PAS) respectively, and released 13 people held under the Internal Security Act (ISA). He has also been trying hard to win the hearts of multi-ethnic Malaysians by building a moderate image for himself and BN through the 1Malaysia campaign. Najib then went on to introduce the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) programme to help the poor by giving RM500 to households with an income of less than RM3,000 a month. The second installation, BR1M 2.0 was launched in February this year, targeting 5.7 million households. To help the urban and middle income group, Najib set up the 1Malaysia People’s Housing programme (PR1MA) to plan, develop, construct and maintain affordable housing for these groups. The houses will cost from RM100,000 to RM400,000. To improve the government’s delivery system, Najib embarked on the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) to improve the quality of public services, increase efficiency, and make government more transparent. He introduced the use of Key Performance Index (KPI) to measure the performance of officials and agencies and National Key Result Area (NKRA) to define goals for specific areas of public policy. In 2009, Najib announced a plan to develop a New Economic Model that will speed Malaysia's transition to a high income country. The plan will emphasise ways to increase the income and productivity of workers by encouraging knowledge industries and increasing investment from overseas. To mitigate the effects of the global economic downturn, the government passed two stimulus packages. The first package, worth RM7 billion, was announced on Nov 4, 2008. The second, worth RM60 billion, was announced on March 10, 2009. Last year, Najib abolished ISA which allowed detention without trial and replaced it with Security Offences (Special Measure) Bill 2012. Among others, the Bill stipulates that a suspect may be detained without trial for a maximum of 28 days, and may claim trial in an open court. It also provides for a judicial review of an arrest or detention, and stipulates that no person shall be detained for his political ideology. Prior to the launch of BR1M 2.0, Najib also launched the 1Malaysia Licence Aid (BL1M) programme to make it easier for youths to obtain the motorcycle licence at RM199 instead of RM350 or more. In early February 2013, he outlined three important principles to be practiced and adhered by the people to ensure Malaysia continues to be a peaceful, stable and harmonious country as well as remain a model for world harmony. The three principles are moderation, fairness and mutual respect between one another. The latest was the launch of a special loan scheme, 1Malaysia Education Care Scheme (SPP1M), for degree students who need additional funding of between RM100,000 and RM150,000. Described as a top-up funding scheme, it will be made available to Malaysian students of local and overseas universities. -Source Malaysia Digest