KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 31 — Calling politics "the worst job in the world” for the uncorrupt, PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli wishes politicians in the country would push their policy ideas forward rather than rely on their personalities to stay in power.

The former Pandan MP said that Malaysia is in desperate need of politicians who can contribute ideas so the nation can regain its geopolitical and economic strength.

"We hope that we will be able to influence politicians from all across the board... whoever it is, that ideas are gaining momentum, and if you want to get to the hearts and minds of the voters, you also have to start talking about ideas.

"And if we can achieve that in a period of four or five months from now, at least I think we’ve done something quite good with our political scene,” he said during a talk held at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre here last night.

Titled "Merdeka Talk: Reimagining Malaysia's Future”, the programme is part of a series organised by the Pakatan Harapan coalition under the Ayuh Malaysia campaign to push for reform in the run-up to GE15.

Rafizi said that he and those running the Ayuh Malaysia campaign were hoping to create enough talk around ideas, that other politicians could not afford to ignore idea-based politics.

He said that the Ayuh Malaysia campaign would continue educating Malaysians, even after the next general elections, that they deserve a better standard of politicians.

"I hope we will be able to bring some little sanity to politics and make it a bit more positive for everyone. Because we need to be positive for us to carry this through, especially this wobbly time in the next one or two years.

"And if we get through this, I think there is a lot that we can do together with Malaysia, so Selamat Hari Merdeka,” he said, using the Malay words for "Happy Independence Day”.

Rafizi had earlier opened his speech by saying that if he could, he would not want to be involved in politics, partly because politics had become "so toxic” in Malaysia, terming it "the worst job in the world if you are not corrupt”.

Last night’s talk featured five speakers including Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar and Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad who proposed ideas on five main topics.

The topics were food security, energy, technical and vocational education training, affordable housing and education.