According to him, this is the reason that what is perceived as socialism has been gaining traction in recent times.
“When you use the word ‘socialism’, it conjures up a lot of images,” he told FMT. “But if you cut out all the philosophical background, it’s just a euphemism for people-centricity.
“Socialism, after all, is a precursor to communism. So, I don’t think people are talking about socialism as a philosophy but as something that translates to people-centric policies.”
Razak, who heads the Centre for Global Affairs (Icon), was commenting on a statement by another analyst, Wong Chin Huat, about PSM’s increasing popularity, especially among youths.
Wong said recently that youth gravitation towards socialism was a worldwide phenomenon and he cited the popularity of Bernie Sanders of the United States and Jean-Luc Mélenchon of France.
Sanders describes himself as a democratic socialist and a New Deal-era American progressive. He is pro-labour and emphasises the importance of reversing economic inequality. Mélenchon founded the La France Insoumise in February 2016, a left-wing populist and democratic socialist political party.
But Razak said socialism’s popularity in Malaysia could be attributed to the people’s perception of a gap between themselves and politicians, particularly those holding executive power.
“There’s a lot of anti-establishment sentiment because people believe the government and politicians have become distant from them,” he said.
“Bernie Sanders and all the others managed to gain traction simply because they go back to the roots and say ‘let’s go back to policies for the people.’
He said people were worried about many things, such as: “How am I going to cope with an extra 70 sen on petrol today? How am I going to pay my loan next month? How am I going to the market? I have to pay for this and that.
“All these things are people-centric. People don’t care about rhetoric.”
He criticised politicians for failing to grasp how unimpressive they really were in the eyes of the discerning public.
“The longevity of a politician is only until the next election,” he said. “So when they talk about grandiose policies, they only have a kind of a notion of where the country is going, but not the nitty gritty.
“You can talk about anything you want to, but it doesn’t mean a thing until it’s people-centric and translated into policies today, not tomorrow.
“So when people like Bernie Sanders talk, people have a sense of: ‘Ah! I can relate to him because he’s talking about how I’m going to pay my petrol bill today, how I’m going to pay for my loan tomorrow. He’s not taking about my children’s children.”