Rafizi Ramli - from PKR critic to reluctant politician...

PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli was fasting the day he came into Malaysiakini's studio last week.

"I'm trying to lose a bit of weight," confessed the newly-wed, blaming his love handles on lack of time for exercise but also the ever-so-healthy food eaten on the ceramah trail.

Just three years ago, he would not have imagined hitting political rallies coast to coast, or facing Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin on a political stage as far away as the United Kingdom.

Three years ago, the man who is so busy with politics today that he communicates with his wife via notes, was a general manager at Pharmaniaga, having moved there after six years in Petronas, and a PKR critic.

A member of the party in its early days, the 35-year-old had  taken a break from politics to concentrate on his corporate career.

"I was just another corporate guy doing work, quite insulated from the real deal on the ground. I didn't go to ceramah, I read newspapers, I read Malaysiakini. So I was very critical of PKR on many fronts," he said.

So critical, that one day PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim got so tired of his griping that he offered Rafizi a job.
 
"It was also a time in my life when I thought I could take a break from corporate life although I never meant to be in politics like this. I only meant to be in policy, administrative policy, to help Pakatan states," he said.

Three years on, Rafizi is the director of strategy at the forefront of the exposes on the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) and is "99.9 percent" certain to contest in the next general election.

He has focused much of his political activities in Kemaman, where he was raised, and is likely to "balik kampung" for the polls to take on BN big guns, "but the final decision is with the party".

Why anti-Pakatan GAPS is important 

Is it all taking a toll on the former corporate high flyer and his new job as the CEO of the Selangor Economic Advisor's office?

"Not really because it's very complementary. Most of the things I do in (PKR) and Pakatan is policy," he said.

He explains that he plays an almost go-between role linking the party, coalition and government, working closely with the Selangor State Investment Centre and Selangor Economic Planning Unit.

Having gotten used to the slow but necessary pace of civil service - "a proposal has to be passed to each department", he laments - Rafizi is enjoying working with bureaucrats who, he says, "mostly want to just do their work".

Not discounting the "bad apples" still loyal to BN, he finds gratification in learning from civil servants and helping Selangor achieve its "social agenda".

Stakeholders, he said, include vocal anti-Pakatan Selangor government group Gerakan Anti-Penyelewengan Selangor (Gaps) led by former PKR member Hamidzun Khairuddin, whom Rafizi is "still friends" with.

"With Gaps most of the things that they bring (forward) hold no water, but who knows in the future there could be (issues)... even in a Pakatan government after two or three terms might lose sight of many things and you require these kind of activism or public pressure on the government," he said.

It is MB Khalid Ibrahim's commitment to ensuring that the best outcome is reached for the most number of people, that could have caused critics to decry the slow pace of bureaucracy in Selangor, at least compared with Penang.

"Selangor is... delicate as a society and constituency because the public advocacy is quite vibrant. I'm not saying Penang is not, but Penang only has, for example, two municipal councils.

"Selangor has about 10 - it's a lot bigger, more industries and therefore more stakeholders that we have to engage with and talk to," he said.
 
Cats,paycuts and babies
 
His experience in the corporate world has helped him in policy-making, particularly in the area of subsidies, but more than this, his time at Petronas has left him a gift close to his heart.

"When I left Petronas, my staff gave me a kitten. At first I was pissed off because I couldn't even take care of myself, now I have to take care of this cat!... But at one time I traveled everywhere with Kristi," he said.

With things turning hectic, Kristi, is now living with his master's parents while the self-confessed cat lover is learning to live with the paycut that comes with the public service.

Things were "okay" at first, he said, but moving from policy to politics take a big chunk of the pay and money going out "is more than what goes in" especially near elections.

"But I was lucky because I don't have an expensive lifestyle. I stay in a cheapskate house, I drive a cheapskate car, and almost debt free in one sense or another so, it takes some of the pressure off," he said.

A little bit of pressure may come when a baby - "we're trying," he shares - comes along, but for now things are good.

"It has been a a humbling experience. I was out of touch in the corporate world after a while you start complaining because whatever you have, other people have less...
 
"Thank God, I'm married so if anything happens, okay lah," he says, laughing, thanking his lucky stars for such an understanding wife.

Rafizi keberatan tapi 99.9 peratus yakin jadi calon

Pengarah strategi PKR, Rafizi Ramli berkata beliau keberatan untuk bertanding dalam pilihan raya umum akan datang, namun “99.9 peratus” yakin akan berbuat demikian.


Kini, tiada lagi syarikat yang akan mengambil beliau bekerja di Malaysia, setelah tiga tahun berkecimpung di dalam PKR, kata bekas pegawai kanan Petronas dan Pharmaniaga itu.
 
Ketua eksekutif di Pejabat Penasihat Ekonomi Selangor itu juga berkata, beliau sekarang  bukan hanya seorang pembuat dasar untuk negeri Pakatan Rakyat tetapi PKR sendiri menaruh harapan besar supaya beliau bertanding.

"Saya keberatan, jika anda tanya saya (sekiranya akan bertanding), tapi ia juga kesalahan kami kerana tidak bertanding pada 2008 apabila diminta.

"Sebab itulah kita ada banyak masalah pada 2008, jadi ada 99.99 peratus peluang untuk saya bertanding.

"Di mana, itu masih belum dapat dilihat, tapi biasanya jika anda merupakan pengarah strategi PKR anda akhirnya akan bertanding," katanya lagi dalam wawancara bersama Malaysiakini minggu lalu.

Rafizi yang banyak meluangkan masa untuk "berpolitik" di Kemaman, Terengganu – kawasan parlimen diwakili orang kuat BN, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek – juga berkata beliau mungkin akan "balik kampung" untuk bertanding di kawasan itu.

Namun, persetujuan akhir terletak kepada parti, kata Rafizi lagi yang tidak lokek dengan senyuman.

Rafizi juga nampaknya tidak begitu kisah dengan pendapatannya yang kini jauh berkurangan berbanding ketika menduduki jawatan tinggi dalam bidang korporat.

"Saya bernasib baik, saya mendapat pekerjaan yang baik, jadi saya ada sedikit simpanan. Pada mulanya, OK kerana saya hanya seorang pegawai kerajaan, saya merangka dasar, tapi tentulah apabila saya bermula dalam politik saya merasa kesannya.

"(Wang) yang keluar lebih banyak daripada yang masuk kerana anda perlu biaya parti dan ramai di antara kami membiaya parti daripada gaji kami sendiri dan sekarang semakin dekat dengan pilihan raya, tidak cukup.

"Tapi saya bernasib baik kerana saya tidak mempunyai gaya hidup mewah. Saya tinggal di rumah murah, pandu kereta murah," katanya. 

Namun beliau tetap bimbang dengan saman yang dikemukakan menteri pembangunan wanita, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, ekoran pendedahan demi pendedahan berhubung dakwaan penyelewengan dalam projek National Feedlot Centre.

"Saya tidak tahulah jika saman itu akan diteruskan, tapi kini saya bebas hutang," katanya lagi.

source:malaysiakini

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