Tengku Zafrul says prefers corporate sector but has to fulfill finance minister duties, not interested in politics

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 — Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said he would choose working in the corporate sector over politics, but will be carrying out his tasks as finance minister.

In an interview with Malay-language daily Sinar Harian that was published today, Tengku Zafrul said he is not involved nor interested in politics, but had taken up his current position as finance minister to serve Malaysia.

“If you ask me that question now, I will choose to return to work in the corporate sector. But now I have to complete my responsibilities as senator and finance minister.

“For now, I am not interested in entering politics and I am not a member of any political parties. Now, my focus is only on serving this country which I am indebted to (banyak berjasa kepada saya).

“When offered this position, I thought I can help from an economic aspect. I don’t have the political DNA and that is important. Another thing is, I’m not interested,” he was quoted as saying.

When Tengku Zafrul was appointed in March as finance minister in Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s Cabinet, the then group CEO of CIMB was seen as a technocrat that broke the norm of senior party political leaders being appointed to the finance minister post.

In the same interview with Sinar Harian published today, Tengku Zafrul also said he was very active in sports and played hockey and ran marathons, besides cycling and swimming.

Tengku Zafrul said this was due to sports being a good form of stress reliever, allowing him time to think without the distraction of smartphones, as well as for health reasons.

He said he also viewed sports as an avenue to challenge himself as he believes that there is a need to always challenge oneself in life, noting that he first started running by first joining half marathons before progressing to full marathons and triathlons.

Citing the Ironman triathlon which he said he took up as a challenge, he said that he had to swim four kilometres, cycle 180 kilometres and run a full 42.2 km marathon, which took 14 hours to complete, uninterrupted.