Hisham: I know where I'm heading

(Taken & Adapted from The Star Online, Sunday 23, 2006)

By LEANNE GOH and KAREN CHAPMAN

INSTEAD of bulldozing his way with new ideas, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein decided to listen and to learn first. 

It is only after two years of going to the ground, consulting his ministry officers and consolidating that he is ready to push forward with what he believes is “doable” – in a big way. 

With the Education Ministry's blueprint under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) clearly spelt out, the minister, who is a lawyer by training, is all fired up to bring the programmes and projects to fruition. 

In an affable mood, Hishammuddin was clearly passionate when he spoke on matters close to his heart.

So why did he sometimes send out conflicting signals, saying something publicly which differed from what he meant to say. Case in point was the open invitation to retired English, Chinese and Tamil language teachers recently to see him at his office if they could not get placement to teach through the state education office. 

Several states simply had no vacancies for such teachers despite a shortage elsewhere. His response: “So I can tell them personally that I’m looking for dedicated teachers who would be willing to go anywhere to teach. 

“My officers have told them this but they won’t accept it coming from them, so I want to tell them myself.” 

He says he simply does not have the time to answer all the questions in detail or explain himself. “If I have to explain every issue, I won’t get any work done. 

“I’m constantly bogged down with minor things but I need to give priority to the more important bigger things.” 

Below are excerpts from the interview. 

What has been the most challenging part of your job so far? 
When you're on the outside looking in, it is so easy to point fingers and come up with 20 solutions but when you are in the hot seat, it is different. It is difficult to be brave, sensible and realistic against the more popular option. 

I think that is the biggest and the most difficult part of my job – I have to appreciate that whatever decision I make will affect millions of people and you'll really only know the outcome in the years to come. That is a very heavy burden to bear. 

I cannot say that I know education inside out. No way. It's been two years since I became Education Minister but at least now I can explain. 

What I want to do, what I have to be able to deliver and what I'm trying to deliver may not seem much but trust me, to even get this far has not been easy. No minister of education since independence has had an easy time because of the diversity, the challenges, the responsibilities and also the changing terrain. 

When you think you have the policy right, the world changes, and the issues and the values of the world also change, especially now with the influence of the Internet. 

Are there issues that you find frustrating to have to deal with? 
The racial aspect. That is the most taxing and frustrating part, and there are times when I really feel like giving up. Truly. You can quote me on that. I'm talking about racial chauvinism. 

Having to deal with that is something I find very frustrating and time consuming. It is also something that goes against my grain because I was not brought up that way. In fact, my grandfather and father have always stood for fairness. 

We cannot allow that kind of thinking to carry on. To me, that is the most frustrating part – I have never been afraid of hard work but this really gets me upset. 

I think you know where I am coming from. You know, defending one school, religion, or language… (be it) Mandarin, Tamil or the national language. See, I have to qualify even that. If you write down “bahasa”, people will assume it is the national language. That is the sort of thing that really gets to me.   

Did you expect things to be this hard at the Ministry? 
I knew there would be lots of hard work but I didn’t expect the racial and religious sensitivities which are so embedded in the system. It is all so fragile. 

I realise now how much wisdom our former leaders had. That is something I never saw when I was in other ministries such as Primary Industries or Youth and Sports, but I see it in the Education Ministry. 

I give full credit to our past leaders who have managed to balance factors which pull in different directions, factors like national unity, strength, diversity, stability, tolerance and moderation. 

That part of it was something I did not expect but the rest I did, because my father (Tun Hussein Onn) was a former education minister so things have gone one full circle. I knew how hard he had to work. 

I have started work at midnight for the past two years. I look at every file and every letter asking for approval, from the child who wants to start school early, or go to international school. 

I look into every case and decide everything, so nobody can say my officers are corrupt or abusing their power. I take full responsibility. If you say that I am corrupt, prove it; then you can get rid of me. 

You can ask my officers as they get their instructions by SMSes at one or two in the morning. It has been like that for two solid years. So the work gets done – minuted by me – the very next day. You can check this out if you interview my officers. I am willing to do all that can be done, even at the expense of losing my sleep. 

That is why I know my ministry so well within these two years. I stopped everything, including my taekwondo and my exercise, until the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) was in place. Now it is just a matter of implementation, so maybe, I can start doing exercise again. 

But this racial thing, this religious thing, you cannot remove it overnight and it really eats into you. At the end of the day, you can have the best education system in the world but if the country is not united and the different races do not live together as one, everything is meaningless.  

The independence and everything that we have built over the years can disappear in the blink of an eye. 

So if you work from 12am to 3am, how many hours of sleep do you survive on?  Four hours, as I get up by 7am. But the body gets used to it. At night, I have formal dinners to attend, during the day I have parliament. I also run Umno Youth and Barisan Nasional Youth. 

I also spent a lot of time in the first two years, touching base with schools to see for myself what the situation was like. I think I have been to at least 150 schools, if not more. 

It has not been easy – you have to enjoy it and have faith in what you do. I know where I am heading, I know how much I have. I know the capacity of my officers. When you first came to the ministry, the perception was that you gave politics priority over education matters.  

Have things changed or was it just a perception? 
At the end of the day, political stability is the key. For me to be effective, my political base has to be strong. 

I have to convince my boys, whether (Umno) Youth or the component parties, that even with my new job, they will not be neglected. What I have invested in the Education Ministry is nothing compared to what I have invested in building my Youth up to where it is right now. 

Without political stability, I would not be able to do anything much in the Education Ministry. So yes, I did initially focus a bit more on politics, but I also used the opportunity to meet people in the schools or remote areas. 

I also had to win over my officers in the Ministry. I was continuously engaging them, asking them what they could, or wanted, to do, and what the limitations were. Then they realised that politics could actually assist them, especially in the implementation of plans, as the politicians and the Youth could be their eyes and the ears. 

But it was a conscious effort on my part to strengthen my political base in the beginning because I knew that without a strong mandate, I would not be able to concentrate on matters. 

With all the hard work and pain, what gives you the most satisfaction?  
When people think that what you are saying is doable. It is easy to make plans but you cannot see the results for at least 10 or 20 years. So when I make a decision, it must be the right one. 

Secondly, looking at my own children and realising that what I am doing is for them also. That gives me the most pleasure, to be honest.