Malaysia's longest-serving lawmaker Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has hailed caretaker prime minister Najib Abdul Razak as a good and articulate administrator with the skills to navigate the country to greater heights.

Tengku Razaleigh, who is fondly known as Ku Li, said that though other people might have different views about Najib, he generally felt that Najib was a firm leader.

"I think he is very articulate, he is very effective in providing leadership as far as his party or his government is concerned," he said.

The former finance minister was asked his thoughts about Najib’s leadership in an interview with the Bernama News Channel for the talk show, The Nation. The programme is scheduled to be aired at 3.30pm today and 3.30pm on Tuesday.

The Kelantan prince, who has served as an MP since the days of second prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein in the 70s, said he was happy with the country's development although it had taken some time to reach the current level.

"It has been commendable, in the sense that we have made achievements and the transformation from an undeveloped state to a semi-developed state has been most welcome, most rewarding, and I think the people generally have benefited a lot from the development that has been done," he said.

At 81, Tengku Razaleigh is set to retain his title as the longest-serving elected representative in the country, both at the parliamentary and state levels, if he wins the Gua Musang parliamentary seat in the 14th general election on May 9.

Tengku Razaleigh is defending the seat he first won in 1974 when it was known as Ulu Kelantan.

He joined Umno in 1962 and won the Ulu Kelantan Barat state seat in 1969 by defeating PAS candidate, Hussin Abdullah.

He contested a parliamentary seat in 1974 and has remained the people's representative for Gua Musang (formerly Ulu Kelantan), even when he founded and led Parti Semangat 46 in 1989 after declining to join Umno Baru that was set up following the dissolution of Umno by the court.

In the 13th general election in 2013, he defeated PAS candidate Wan Abd Rahim Wan Abdullah with a majority of 8,413 votes.

In the upcoming election, Tengku Razaleigh is in a three-cornered fight with Abdullah Hussein (PAS) and Mohd Nor Hussin (PKR-Bersatu) and is set to become the people's representative for the 12th term if he wins.

Meanwhile, Tengku Razaleigh urged on the fence voters to choose "peace, stability and unity" when casting their votes on May 9. 

Asked how he defined peace, he said: “Peace is when we don't interfere with each others' lives so that we can tolerate each other as good neighbours and good friends and we can continue living together.”

He also asked voters to ensure their candidates are trustworthy before giving the latter their votes. 

“It’s not just your life. It’s the lives of your children, your grandchildren and the future of the country."

He also cautioned candidates and parties to avoid intimidating or causing fear in people in order to garner votes. 

--Bernama