by Salima Nadira
People like to gossip. And boy, are they gossiping about Mr Nizam Ismail, who recently resigned from the Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP) over the G’s unhappiness at his politically-charged activities, which it maintains amounts to using the AMP as a platform for race-based politics. Berita Harian (BH) is awash with articles on Nizam’s private life and personal problems. It all began with this article which dug up enough dirt on Mr Nizam’s life to fuel one season of a drama serial on Suria.
The article checked all the boxes: Nizam divorced his first wife because he was messing around with his current second wife. Together, they are known as Awesome Twosome, and have performed (her on vocals and him on keys) at the Esplanade – there are videos on YouTube. But that’s not all. Nizam is also (gasp!) a womanizer, and has been around the block, shacking up with numerous Chinese ladies. One of these dalliances resulted in a child.
Having dropped this bomb, the article moves swiftly on to focus on his credit card debt of over $33,000 and the lawsuit which OCBC has on him. According to his close family and friends, this debt (and others) was an “open secret” amongst his family and close friends. However, many others were surprised at this debt, considering his cushy jobs in big banks like MAS; as Senior Vice President, Chief Compliance for Southeast Asia in Lehman Brothers; and later, Executive Director, Head of Compliance for Southeast Asia of Morgan Stanley.
In response, Nizam said he was disappointed and shocked that BH chose to ask such questions, as they have nothing to do with AMP or RIMA, the group’s research arm. He suggested that BH focus on issues like the retraction of funding from Malay/Muslim organizations, so that a variety of views, including critical ones, may be gathered.
Furthermore, debates rage over whether Mr Nizam can be considered to have been acting in his personal capacity, or whether his position as director of AMP and chairman of RIMA makes him morally obligated to walk within certain boundaries.
Apparently, prior to speaking at Hong Lim Park on Feb 16 and the Workers’ Party event, he had specifically asked the AMP chairman, Azmoon Ahmad, whether there were any issues with him speaking, even sending the chairman a copy of his presentation. He was given the go-ahead. On his blog, he says that “I am disappointed that my activities in these events have now been made an issue by AMP”.
AMP, on its part, has stated that its first principle is independence and non-partisanship, expressing disappointment in Mr Nizam’s actions which, although done in his personal capacity, was acting against these principles.
However, Mr Nizam argues on his blog that the Community Forum (ComFor) he proposed through AMP, which triggered the funding cut threat, “was meant to be an independent platform to discuss community and national issues” and to encourage a diversity of voices, rather than state-sponsored Community Leadership Forum (CLF) which he noted to be “top-down”.
Poor Mr Nizam. He wanted a diversity of voices; it looks like he’s got it. Unfortunately, voices tend to chatter much more when they’re gossiping. People are writing to defend BH for publishing reports on Mr Nizam’s OCBC lawsuit, and about AMP chairman’s emotional breakdown over how this quarrel demonstrates the disunity in the community.
More crucially, some people do not want this diversity of views that he’s trying to encourage. They are saying that as director of AMP he should not be participating in opposition party events and protest rallies, because this means that he’s partisan. And having a diversity of views means the community is not united.
Maybe Mr Nizam was going about things all wrong. Instead of trying to change mindsets and arguing big issues on his blog, he should instead just ride this wave of publicity, write and act in a drama of at least one season, earn big bucks, and retire with his wife on another, more idyllic island. This could very well be the big break for Awesome Twosome all along.
On a more serious note, however, one wonders why the Malay language newspaper chose to wash all that dirty linen in public at this time. Because Mr Nizam is perceived to be “down and out’’? The articles on his personal life and how some people think this reflects on his ability to be a community leader, could well have been written during his term in the AMP.
Such an expose at this time only serves to fuel cynicism that the media is embarking on a character assassination exercise because a green light of sorts has been given. It smacks somewhat of Palmergate and the Yaw Shin Leong affair. Except that Mr Nizam is not an MP. At least not yet.
*Article first appeared on http://www.breakfastnetwork.sg/?p=3968