PROFILE | He is waiting on the sidelines. But waiting is not a drudgery for him. And that is simply because he hustles while he waits.

Not one to stand and stare, nor wait for something to happen, DAP dynamo Abdul Aziz Isa is one who chooses to make things happen.

Being young, suave and well read, the 28-year-old stands out on first impression as a “happening” persona.

Having a degree in social science, majoring in politics and government, Abdul Aziz, the go-getter, is now “hustling” for a law degree from the University of London. 

While waiting for his number to be called, perhaps, as a parliamentary candidate in GE14, Abdul Aziz - who comes from a family of sterling BN politicians - is DAP’s rising poster boy in hornbill country. 

Abdul Aziz is the grandnephew of the former chief minister of Sarawak, Abdul Taib Mahmud. 

The Stakan assemblyperson, Mohd Ali Mahmud, is the granduncle of Abdul Aziz, while the assemblyperson for Demak Laut, Dr Hazland Abang Hipni, is his cousin.

He also has an aunt, Norah Tun Abdul Rahman, who is the MP for Tanjung Manis, whereas the former Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) treasurer, Abdul Hamid Sepawi, is his granduncle.

His grandmother, Mazuyin Abdul Manan, 77, has been active in Sarawak politics for decades.

Family matters

So does the family that “politics” together, stay together?

For Abdul Aziz, it is an almost yes answer - except for one episode when he was a candidate for the Batu Kitang state seat in 2016. 

“All my family members respect my decision to be in politics and it did not matter to them as to which party I subscribe to.

“Perhaps, being the only fourth generation member of the Ya’kub lineage to take up politics is the reason for their support,” he said.

“However, during campaigning for the Batu Kitang state seat, my grandmother, Mazuyin, was flabbergasted with the choice of my party and campaigned against me,” he recalled.

Mazuyin told the media then: “I don’t like the fact that my grandson wants to fight against BN, and this is why I’m here to support BN’s Batu Kitang candidate Lo Khere Chiang. Don’t vote for Abdul Aziz, I don’t like it.

“He’s really young, hasn’t even started working, but suddenly now he wants to go against the government,” she said.

Abdul Aziz was defeated by the BN candidate, and he quipped that his opponent must thank his grandmother for lending him a helping hand.

He also said: “I thank my grandma too for helping my opponent win.

“But that was two years ago, and it is now history and seems more amusing than bad-blood politics now,” says Abdul Aziz.

“Me and my grandmother have reconciled,” he said, quoting a Malay proverb, air dicincang tak akan putus (blood is thicker than water).     

Another Batu Kitang controversy

Apart from his grandmother causing a stir during his campaigning at Batu Kitang, his DAP comrade, Hew Kuan Yau “put him in a spot” with Malay voters.

In a ceramah video, Hew, in the hope of bolstering Malay votes for Abdul Aziz uttered: “Aziz would mess it up for the Malays if he won the constituency in the May 7 election.”

According to Abdul Aziz, the firebrand Hew actually meant if he was elected in Batu Kitang, he would be the Malay representative who would go after corrupt Malays in Sarawak.

“Certain quarters took the chance to twist Hew’s message which was in Mandarin,” he said.

Eventually, BN’s Lo Khere Chiang won the seat with 6,466 votes to Aziz’s 4,626 votes whereas, PKR’s Voon Shiak Ni garnered 883 votes and the two independents took 61 and 54 votes respectively.

Last year, Abdul Aziz was handcuffed and briefly detained at the Kuching police headquarters in Simpang Tiga for insulting Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in a Facebook post.

To date, he has not been charged with any offence.  

Unfazed by his flash encounter with the police, he came out bushy-tailed with more gumption and gusto, spelling out what he truly believes in - to make Sarawak great and Malaysia even greater.

‘We should not be enemies’

Three weeks ago when a commotion broke out at the Kuching Federal Court after the conclusion of an apostasy case, where Catholic Archbishop Simon Poh was heckled by an overzealous Malay-Muslim group, Abdul Aziz took to YouTube.

In the three-minute flick, he lambasted the hecklers for their unruly behaviour.

In the demeanour of a Muslim preacher delivering a Friday khutbah (sermon), minus his kopiah, Abdul Aziz chided: “Why shout and provoke trouble among one another?” 

“We Muslims and Christians should not be enemies. This is not a matter of religion, but rather a group of people whose brain cells do not seem to connect,” he admonished.

“I heard you shout ‘Allahuakbar’. Do you know what it means? It means God is Great and he created all races and creeds to get to know one another and not be enemies.

“‘Allahuakbar’ is not a war cry, but it is for praising God’s greatness during prayer.

“Allah Almighty has imbued us with a rational mind so that we do not get emotional and provoke ourselves and others.” 

As of press time, Abdul Aziz’s biting homily has attracted 79,000 views, 4,000 “likes”, 2,400 shares, and 1,000 comments from people of all walks of life.

Crunching numbers

Although Abdul Aziz excelled in science, especially physics and mathematics which are his favourite subjects, he opted to pursue arts after completing his studies at the Labuan Matriculation College. 

However, he still has a “head for figures” and crunches numbers with fluidity even if they are in astronomical trillions - and he shows how the final indices total up in Sarawak’s favour. 

“From 1974 till 2014 the federal government earned RM881.3 billion in dividends, taxes, royalties and duty from national oil company, Petronas.

“If the forgone revenue in the form of gas subsidy is included it would add up to another RM230.6 billion,” he said.

Hence, the total financial contribution to the Malaysian economy spanning 40 years from 1974 till 2014 is RM1.11 trillion (average contribution of RM27.75 billion annually, and RM2.3125 billion monthly), he said.

“If this revenue was used effectively, it would have been more than enough to settle the national debt which is now staggering at RM685.1 billion (based on 2017 data),” he added.

Abdul Aziz said, as of 2015, RM1.11 trillion is equivalent to 1.7 times the amount of total investment assets of the Employees Provident Fund (RM667.21 billion) and 2.7 times the amount of foreign reserves of Bank Negara (RM417.2 billion).

“With so much money milling about, how much did Sarawak earn for its oil and gas, exploited by Petronas? Just a mere five percent. Is this a fair deal?” he asked. 

This huge disparity in the state’s earnings from its petrol and gas got him thinking.

He said if only 20 percent from the RM1.11 trillion Petronas contribution to the federal government in the form of royalties had been paid to the state since 1974, a total of RM222 billion could have been used to develop Sarawak.

“With this money, the Sarawak government would not have waited for 53 years to persuade the federal government to build the Pan-Borneo Highway,” he said.  

“It is clear to us that the current BN regime had failed to manage the funds obtained from our natural resources wisely. We are lagging behind compared to other oil-producing countries,” he added.  

A homegrown oil company

In 2016, Abdul Aziz suggested a new Act to be enacted to allow Sarawak to establish its own oil company. This was more than a year before the blueprint for Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros) was even mooted.

“Setting up our own oil company would mean oil recovered from the state’s offshore and onshore reserves would be owned and managed by the state.

“When this homegrown company is established, an executive board should be formed under an ordinance to report on the status of management, operations and finance from time to time to the state finance minister,” he had suggested.   

On Tuesday, Sarawak’s very own oil company, Petros, finally saw the light of day, when it was launched by Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg.

“But where is the ordinance?” asks Abdul Aziz.

“Only when a company is established after a new Act and placed under the responsibility of the state legislative assembly can misconduct and wastage of money be prevented.

“The ordinance is necessary because simply put, the revenue gained is made public.

“Presently in the case of Petronas, the actual revenue obtained is only known to the prime minister and even our lawmakers have no access to it,” he said.

“This is wealth taken from the land of the rakyat, so it is only fair that the rakyat get to see the fiscal numbers on the balance sheet.” 

Abdul Aziz said leaders or ministers are put there by the rakyat to help manage the rakyat's wealth, not to control and hide the actual amount of wealth derived from the rakyat's land, which will almost certainly raise questions as to how the money was used.

People-centred maverick 

By every count, Abdul Aziz is a politician with a heart for the people.

In a final salvo, he says: “The country in general has been in a state of suspended animation for too long. Kleptocracy, GST, inflation, high cost of living, corruption, nepotism, cronyism, you name it, we have it.

“My sense is that there is a deep yearning amongst the people of Malaysia to realise the country’s immense potential and their aspirations are straining at the leash.”

He says that people want fair educational, higher job opportunities, house ownership, better infrastructure, proper housing, and generally at the national level transparent and corruption-free governance.

Most of all, he says, the people want a “decisive and honest leadership”, adding, “These are my aspirations too to transform this country”.

A strange mix of ideas, between social thinkers, intellectuals and politicians, rarely seen on the same stage, can only be encountered during a general election.

Abdul Aziz is spot-on as the maverick among the lot. It is election time. The unbranded calf is now on stage.