Let me introduce Luis Suarez's home country, Uruguay. It has been getting an avalanche of good press. And all because of one man who dares to be different. He is refreshingly humble and honest! He is Uruguayan President Jose Mujica.
Foreign Policy named President Mujica among its "100 Leading Global Thinkers", UK's The Guardian called the entire country "heroic" and The Economist named Uruguay its first-ever "Country of the Year."
I have blogged about BN leaders' lifestyles that are frequently scandalous, if not sinful! But Mujica is a rarity because he is the exact opposite. The closest equivalent to Mujica in Malaysia is probably Tok Guru Nik Aziz.
This is Uruguay’s Presidential Palace. But the President doesn’t live here!
Mujica has shunned the luxurious residence that the Uruguayan state provides for its leaders and opted to stay at his wife's farmhouse, off a dirt road outside the capital, Montevideo.
Image credit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20243493
The only security detail is two guards parked on the approach road, and Mujica's three-legged dog, Manuela.
The president and his wife Lucia Topolansky work the land themselves, growing flowers.
BTW, he drives a 1987 VW Beetle instead of taking the customary limousine.
This austere lifestyle – and the fact that Mujica donates about 90% of his monthly salary, equivalent to $12,000 (£7,500), to charity – has led him to be called “the world’s poorest president”.
His charitable donations – which benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs – mean his salary is roughly in line with the average Uruguayan income of $775 (£485) a month.
In 2010, his annual personal wealth declaration – mandatory for public officials in Uruguay – was $1,800 (£1,100), the value of his old car. In 2012, he added half of his wife's assets – land, tractors and a house – reaching $215,000 (£135,000).
That's still only about two-thirds of Vice-President Danilo Astori's declared wealth, and a third of the figure declared by Mujica's predecessor as president, Tabare Vasquez.
Still, the former guerrilla and Marxist resists the label. He's not a victim of poverty, after all; he's a political leader who cares deeply about economic inequality and is making an effort to lead by example.
Still, there's something to seeing Mujica really living his message that drives home just how unusual it is. This photo, from December 26, 2013, shows him sitting between his vice president Danilo Astori (to his left) and his new finance minister Mario Bergara, during the latter's official swearing-in ceremony. Soak it in:
Uruguay's President Jose Mujica (center) sits between his vice president and finance minister at the latter’s swearing-in, in Montevideo, Uruguay. Image credit: Matilde Campodonico/AP
What struck me about this photo, after having fully absorbed that I was looking at the head of state of a sovereign nation, was that Mujica has staffed his administration with people who look and dress like senior government officials. In other words, though he's chosen to cultivate a moderately radical image for himself, he's not making that image so important that it's precluded him from working with suit-wearing technocrats. He still wants to run his country.
From what I have read about him, Mujica may be the only left-wing leader on the planet to win the favour of UK's Daily Mail, which lauded him as a trustworthy and charismatic figurehead in an article headlined: "Finally, A politician who DOESN'T fiddle his expenses."
Uruguay's options to improve society are limited, he believes, by the power of global capital.
"I'm just sick of the way things are. We're in an age in which we can't live without accepting the logic of the market," he said. "Contemporary politics is all about short-term pragmatism. We have abandoned religion and philosophy … What we have left is the automatisation of doing what the market tells us."
And he says: "If we lived within our means – by being prudent – the 7 billion people in the world could have everything they needed. Global politics should be moving in that direction," he said. "But we think as people and countries, not as a species."
I challenge not just Najib Razak but all BN ministers to lead normal lives – like most Malaysians do – and reject the conspicuous and showy lifestyles they regularly display. Live within your honest means. In Malaysia that may just prove to be almost impossible!
