1. Much has been made about trusting Tun M, given his record in civil liberties and institutional degradation during his first 22 years as PM. This need for vigilance is understandable and logical. However, I am optimistic. Let me tell you why...
2. In 2015, I went with @jsadiq to see Tun talk at the FCC. He was as usual a compelling and composed speaker. But I noted a chink in his armour when he admitted that he has failed despite his long reign in power. At that moment, his voice broke. I had an idea.
3. The next day I made some calls and proposed to his office that I wanted to shoot an interview with him. Negotiations and meetings took place, the end of which I had permission for a 3 hour interview in Tokyo. I put together a team in Tokyo and we did the shoot.
4. Now, everyone who knew me will attest that I didn’t have good words to say about him. But after that shoot, I had to admit I softened massively. I will share a few impressions from my dealings with him here. Perhaps it will help you assess the man who is PM again.
5. I believe u can judge anyone by the ppl they surround themselves with. I had by this time made a lot of videos with politicians from both sides - and have experience w UMNO princelings & warlords, the oh-so-out-of-touch MCA and the novel folksiness of the opposition.
6. Tun M’s ppl were different. They were older, well spoken, firm but polite, and professional. There was none of that gangster-like hubris I had come to associate with dealing with UMNO people. And there were many women by his side, who clearly loved and protected him.
7. In order to co-ordinate the shoot (in a Tokyo tea house), I was given access to his schedule. It shocked me. Frankly, I would have rejected it as overly demanding. It included meeting mayors, school children and academics all day, for wks on end. And this was a octogenarian.
8. The man himself was tricky to interview. He was polite, at times funny, at times defensive but always sharp and intelligent. He swerved and dived. However, he did admit to mistakes (educational policy) and regrets (Najib). Through it all, his admiration for Japan was clear.
9. Shoot ended. I went to wake Tun Siti H in the next room. She didn’t recognise me. “Who are you?” I explained. She held me by the hand, joked kindly, “oh then u owe me lunch, Pete.” I asked why. “Cos today is our anniversary and you took my husband away from me”, she smiled.
U have to wonder about an authoritarian PM who has an angel for a wife. He remembered the exact day he met her over half a century ago and what she wore that day. At the wrap party w my crew that night, I grudgingly admitted that this was not the man I had expected.
I had subsequent opportunity to witness him spend time with his family and grand children. Another side of him emerged. He was funny when away from business. By that, I mean comedian funny. I regret not being able to film those moments.
Now, cynics may rightfully say that I was charmed by a master politician. I am not naive and admit to that possibility. But I also reject it. You see, I have seen enough to know that this is a man driven by a conviction to uplift the Malay community and the country...
A conviction that he has publicly admitted to having failed. And seeing the mess that was Najib’s Malaysia it wasn’t hard to agree with that it would be the prognosis of his legacy. Yet weeks after I got back from Japan, he was on the streets at Bersih 4, trying to reverse it.
So here we r at the dawn of a new era. He is back as PM. I remind myself that we must be vigilant, not just of him but all who sits on that seat. He seems softer now but still the same man. I believe he means to put right that legacy. For all our sakes I hope he succeeds.
And what of that filmed interview that I shot in Japan? I didn’t feel that we had enough to make the film I wanted. It felt like we needed more. And so I left it in archive and didn’t do much with it. And now I know why. His story continues.
