Debra Chong catches up with newly-elected Seri Setia state assemblyman Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, the youngest candidate to run and win in last month’s general election.

PETALING JAYA, April 19 ─ Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad learnt he was the new state assemblyman for Seri Setia in Selangor on March 9 ─ at 4am. Right after that, he went home, slept a little, maybe a couple of hours, woke up, went to Desa Mentari in Kampung Lindungan because he had made a promise to be there at the voluntary tuition class for primary schoolers he’d help set up, attended a Barisan Nasional representative’s funeral, followed by a wedding where he performed his first ever blessing ceremony on the glowing bride and groom.

It’s been more than a month since all that happened. The 26-year-old is learning that life as a politician is not easy; the rollercoaster never lets up; but he’s dealing with it.

“Victory hasn’t dawned on me yet. I’ve been inundated with phone calls. I expect it’ll remain so for the first 100 days after the general elections. Right now though, it’s ‘Oh no ... it’s another thing’,” said the skinny guy with a Julia Roberts smile.

Nik Nazmi, the social activist-turned-politician, was the youngest candidate to run for public office in the 12th general election. He hadn’t planned to actually.

“It was a late decision. The party had been pushing me to contest for some time. They even asked me to stand in Shah Alam,” he recounted.

He turned it down. He didn’t feel ready. This despite the fact that he had been a private secretary to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the main man behind Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), and had been helping out with party work since age 19.

Nik Nazmi is also a PKR national Youth exco member, Kelana Jaya division vice-chief, and head of the research and publication bureau for the national elections committee.

He was perfectly happy to stay behind the scenes, putting in place programmes that really changed people’s lives, such as the Desa Mentari Voluntary Tuition Centre. He founded it last year to help the primary schoolchildren from the low-cost flats who are struggling to cope with learning maths and science being taught in English, a language foreign to them despite being born urbanites in the richest state in the country.

Then the big man himself entreated him. Nik Nazmi caved in, on the condition that he be allowed to run for office in his own constituency, which was Seri Setia. He was sure that he wouldn’t win over the Umno incumbent, Seripah Noli Syed Husin, but felt that he’d be more convincing campaigning for the party than someone who was unfamiliar with the issues in the constituency.

“At least for myself, I know I’d do my best. I went in hoping to make a deep impact (on the constituents). I never expected to win,” said Nik Nazmi.

But win he did, and in a big way. He garnered 13,838 votes against Seripah’s 10,995, winning by a majority of 2,843 votes.

He credits his win to the “wisdom of the people”. Many pseudo pundits have credited the Opposition’s big win to disenchantment with the ruling coalition, the BN. Nik Nazmi, however, thinks more credit should be given to the Opposition coalition.

“I don’t discount the fact that people were disenchanted with BN. They had developed a distaste for the arrogance and idiocy demonstrated by the BN representatives. But I also think people bought our agenda to a certain extent. We succeeded because we talked about bread-and-butter issues,” he opined.

Post-election, Nik Nazmi has been appointed political secretary to the Menteri Besar of Selangor, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, a post that keeps him on his toes.

“As political secretary, I head the political operations; I handle the media, the speech writing, I deal with a lot of people and manage the political relationships (among the coalition),” he rattled off somewhat wearily.

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“It’s a demanding job. There are times when you have to deal with people and be nice. Remember these are the people who supported you. I think the BN forgot that after 50 years in power. The media has been critical but it keeps us on our toes,” he added.

For now, his priority as political secretary is to ensure the smooth running of political operations in the MB's office, to ensure that PKR does well in Selangor. But he has other hats too.

As the Seri Setia assemblyman, he’s kept occupied with a lot of “firefighting” work ─ flood and land ownership woes mainly. But he is also trying to fulfil the pledges in his manifesto: provide equal opportunities to the working-class citizens in his constituency and fighting crime.

And as the PKR Youth exco, his priority is to “keep on engaging leaders, hold economic discourses with the students in the UK and elsewhere.” It is in this area that he faces the most challenge, it would appear.

“More needs to be done to reach out to the disenfranchised youth. In lots of fields, a lot of the students don’t want to come back to Malaysia because they view Malaysia as incapable of change. I have to keep appealing to them that society can accept the multiplicity of Malaysia, that this sort of society does not have to be Singapore or Taiwan, that Malaysia is capable of change. If I work hard enough and keep sending same message again and again, change will come,” he cried passionately.

Thankfully, his youth has been working to his advantage in this area. His imaginative campaigning strategy using YouTube and home-made videos outlining his manifesto (designed with the help of his yuppy friends who were intrigued by Barack Obama) helped him reach a wider audience.

His willingness to listen to people and offer practical solutions rather than rhetoric, his level-headedness in moments of tension, his ability to admit his relative inexperience, and his ear-to-ear smile make him seem more approachable and point to his dedication to a job not wanted.

He demonstrated this clearly during this interview, which took place at the opening of Subang Jaya state assemblywoman Hannah Yeoh’s service centre. Despite the many interruptions throughout ─ from phone calls, people walking in and out, photo calls ─ Nik Nazmi stayed focused throughout, answered directly the question asked in a level tone.

There were no hysterics, no shooting down his political rivals. He demonstrated a lot of common sense, a willingness to change. Because of this, one suspects he is able to gain the respect from older people. They see him as someone reliable.

The person who keeps him thus grounded is his retired father who used to be in the civil service at a time when it actually had class, he said.

“My father is very religious personally. I remember when I started writing at age 16, I was very idealistic and critical of the government’s policies; this was before PKR.

“I was brought up to learn how to speak my mind, but to express my thoughts in a decent, organised manner. I remember we used to have these debates at home. We debated the NEP too. My father gave me a different perspective on these issues, and I've come to appreciate that. I’m very fortunate that my family very protective of me,” said the youngest child and the only son.