By all accounts, Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad has had a privileged life.
He says so himself in his book, Malaysian Son, which he penned when he was 39 as “some sort of part one” to his political career that started when he was just 19.
His father, Nik Ahmad Nik Hassan, was the secretary-general at the former Energy, Telekom and Post ministry for a decade, from 1978 to 1988, so the grunge-loving, Liverpool FC-supporting Nik Nazmi had a top education, studying at the Malay College Kuala Kangsar before reading law at King’s College, London, on a scholarship.
Regarded as a political wunderkind, he rose up the rungs at PKR Youth to be elected vice-president of the party last year. When he contested in the 2008 General Election, he was the youngest candidate at 26.
And upon winning the Seri Setia state seat in Selangor then, he went on to become, among others, a political secretary to the Selangor mentri besar, a deputy speaker at the state assembly and a state exco member.
Despite all that political experience, though, Nik Nazmi – now 41 – was surprised when he received the call to join the Cabinet as the new Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister in December 2022.
He has dealt with issues of education, science and technology, and human capital during his time in the Selangor government, and in Parliament, has spoken out on matters relating to defence and the Budget.
“Those were the things I focused on, not this portfolio. In a way, I was surprised. But anyway, it is a privilege and this is not the sort of job that you can demand. The PM appoints me, it’s a privilege and an honour to serve,” he says during a one-on-one interview at his ministry in Putrajaya on Feb 22, 2023.
In other words, it’s a larger portfolio with all the extra responsibilities that come with it.
It’s so large a portfolio that the job comes with two offices and two ministry buildings – one where we met the minister on the ninth floor of Block F11 in Precinct 1 for the interview, and the other at Wisma Sumber Asli overlooking the boulevard in Precinct 4.
Did Nik Nazmi ask Anwar – whose office he joined in 2006 – why he was tapped for this big job?
“You don’t ask questions like that,” Nik Nazmi replies with a laugh.
His first reaction, he admits, was that it is a huge responsibility with a very steep learning curve as it is a rather technical and scientific portfolio, especially for someone schooled in law rather than science.
“There are a lot of international commitments we have pledged and all those types of things – I knew that there would be a lot of work from the get go.
“It’s a very big ministry, a very high profile one, and it’s very crucial,” he adds, pointing out that the portfolio often receives one of the largest allocations in the annual budget as well as the most number of questions in Parliament. (In the 2023 Budget tabled by Anwar on Feb 24, 2023, Nik Azmi's ministry received an allocation of RM6.53bil.)
Crucial is the right word because Nik Nazmi is taking over the portfolio when Malaysia – along with the rest of the world – is becoming increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. This is also a time when Malaysians are getting more educated and vocal about environmental issues.
Oh, and not to mention the quick succession of ministers and governments since 2020, starting with the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan administration just as the world was hit with a pandemic. It left the entire government in a bit of a mess, obviously....
The difficulty and urgency of his task is something that Nik Nazmi has experienced personally in his work as an MP.
On top of his appointment taking place during the flood season in December, he has since had to deal with issues such as an Environ-mental Impact Assessment (EIA) report and complaints over tunnelling for sewerage, electricity and water in his constituency. And it all comes under the direct purview of his ministry.
Even his family, according to Nik Nazmi, is surprised by the staggering amount of ministerial work he has to do.
“Before this, they knew that I was busy – I was an MP and party vice-president. But they did not realise that I would be this busy and engaged when I occupied this ministry.
“It’s three or four times as busy as previously,” he says, confessing to having spent a lot of his first month in the office catching up on policy papers.
Acutely aware of the large amount of ground he has to quickly – and expertly – cover under the portfolio, Nik Nazmi credits the ministry’s capable civil servants for aiding him, as well as engaging with experts from the outside.
In fact, marking a difference from previous ministers, he has made it a point to meet environmental activists and conservation groups for their feedback a few times every month. And he’s comfortable admitting that some of these activists are even younger than him, and more knowledgeable to boot.
“One of those things that is really noticeable in this era of Greta Thunberg, many of these activists are young and they are passionate but they also know their stuff. Sometimes, more than what we older people know. So that’s very inspiring,” he says, referring to the teenage Swedish climate activist who has galvanised youth around the world to take action.
“They keep me on my toes, they ask me difficult questions. I find it useful. You need to have different perspectives,” he notes.
The message he has for these activists – some of whom are still in their teens – is that he is taking the issue of climate change seriously.
Malaysians, Nik Nazmi is convinced, have reached a tipping point when it comes to environmental issues like climate change and are now ready to make changes to their lifestyles to accommodate pledges like the country’s international commitment to achieve net zero in carbon emissions by 2050.
“Obviously, it may not be as big an issue as in Europe or Australia. But I think it’s sizable, it’s big enough.
“Many people in the government [and] corporate sector are talking about it. But whether they have the right objective... or they may have some issues with it, at least the broad picture is that people are talking about it. And I think that’s important.
“Obviously, it’s still a challenge,” he adds.
To Nik Nazmi, measures and policies like achieving net zero in carbon emissions, encouraging cities to go low carbon, investing in renewable energy (RE) or mitigating climate change are not just a matter of life and death but actually make good business sense in this day and age.
“More and more investors, when they come in, they want to see what is the ESG [Environmental, Social and Governance] aspect of things. How much RE are you using?
“That’s a big selling point,” he contends.
How is he going to handle this hugely important portfolio without making mistakes in the next few months?
“I think what’s more important than not making mistakes is how you learn and how to move forward. You don’t dwell on it, that’s the most crucial thing.
“If I want an approach that is not about making mistakes, I would probably give PDF statements rather than meeting the press. And I think I have been very open with the press.”
The following are excerpts from our interview.
You say in Malaysian Son that you’re a privileged person. How has privilege served you or acted as an obstacle?
I think it has given me the skill, the knowledge. I was exposed to the best education.
During my time, I went to government schools. I had friends who came on motorbikes and who came in Mercedes cars. I had friends who lived in squatter buildings and people who lived in big bungalows. That was the mix we had. Even in MCKK, I had friends from Felda and I had friends from richer families. That to me was an advantage.
My father was careful with his money. He taught that we shouldn’t spend too much but I always knew getting food was not an issue.
Compared with the struggle with inflation and food prices people are facing now?
I think that in a sense, maybe, people say I can’t relate to certain things. But bearing all circumstances in mind, I can only be thankful. You can’t question your circumstances but what you make out of them is important.
For me, it was to join politics because I had all this growing up. I believe that things can be better, I believe in social justice. I believe that we shouldn’t focus on issues that have racial politics.
I chose a political journey and I think my privilege is about serving now. I repay the things that I was born with.
Why were you moved to write Malaysian Son?
People write memoirs when they retire, I know. For me, I have been involved in politics since I was 19. When I wrote the book, I was about 39, so 20 years, more than half of my life, I had spent in politics by then. I felt that it had come to a sort of a mid-point. If I live long enough, it would be a mid-point in my career.
I still remember a lot of things from 19 and even earlier. So, OK, I put it down on paper, and God willing, if I still have another 20 years down the road, then I can have a part two sort of thing.
You joined politics because of events related to Anwar Ibrahim back in 1998?
Well, I was a very geeky kid. My father was very politically [aware]. He was a civil servant. But at one point, [PAS spiritual leader] Tok Guru Nik Aziz came to the house, asking him to contest in the 1990 elections.
When I was growing up, he was talking about [second prime minister] Tun Abdul Razak, about [political leaders] Burhanuddin Helmi and Ahmad Boestaman. So I was politically aware. I have had political arguments since Form One. I was always Opposition.
In fact, the first memory that I had, at eight years old, was the 1990 General Election. Everyone was supporting BN [Barisan Nasional]. I didn’t want BN to win, and I grew up like that.
So you’ve been anti-establishment since 1990?
Maybe that is how I came to support [then] underdogs like Liverpool [laughs].
Obviously, not many of my friends wanted to talk about politics with me. But I think the one thing that struck me politically was reading the biography by Malcom X. This was a Muslim whose faith made him believe that a race-based solution is not the way forward.
And I thought, “Hey, we are a Malay-Muslim majority country, why don’t we have people talking about this? Why are things so racialised?” It made me think, and I was still struggling. But then Reformasi came about.
Reformasi began when I was in Form Four. When Anwar decided to make it a multiracial movement, I felt that this was the way forward. Because it was something fresh and new in Malaysian politics. So Reformasi did play a role but it wasn’t the start per se. Then, a senior of mine, [Economic Affairs Minister] Rafizi Ramli, roped me in and the rest is history.
[Nik Azmi is referring to the Reformasi – or Reformation – protest movement related to Anwar that began in 1998 with street demonstrations.]
How do you reconcile the collapse of the first Pakatan Harapan administration in 2020 following its historic win in the 2018 General Election?
It was easier for me because I was out of the government. I was just an MP.
Many Malaysians were euphoric, to the point that many were unrealistic. Many people thought we could turn wine into water.
Anyway, I think the easy part for me – and something that I remind myself consciously and constantly about – is that we got to power and we became ministers ... it’s easy to take things for granted and it’s easy to be in a bubble.
But we lost the plot. [Seventh prime minister] Tun [Dr Mahathir Mohamad] I think, for whatever reason, he planned it.
It was a government of contradictions. In the sense, at one point, he pushed for certain things, he wanted to sign Icerd, he wanted to sign the Rome Statute, without people really understanding about them. At the same time, he organised the Malay dignity congress. People couldn’t make sense of it, and it was bound to collapse, then he got people to jump to Bersatu.
[Icerd is the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; the Rome Statute of the Inter-national Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court. Malaysia has not ratified either.]
So you think it was bound to happen?
It was bound to happen, it was not stable. This time around, there’s still a lot of contradictions but people are a bit more realistic about expectations. They’ve seen what can happen.
They also know that it is not a Pakatan government.
I think people value the stability. They’ve gone through so many PMs that they value the stability. Obviously, we should not compromise on the value of reforms and all those things but at the end of the day, the country needs a government.
In fact, there was an opportunity for even the Opposition to be part of the government, they chose not to be, and that decision is fine. I think it’s good to have an Opposition.
But at the end of the day, this government has to function. We have our reform agenda. But we have to be balanced within this unity government context, which is, again, not straightforward.
But the fact that we went through Pakatan 1.0 means that this new unity government, people can have realistic expectations.
So you’re likely to stay with your portfolio a lot longer than the previous administration’s ministers?
Well, that’s my hope.
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