Nazri Aziz: The 'accidental' hero

INTERVIEW Many have likened Minister in Prime Minister's Department Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz to a cat with nine lives.

Just as you think that his political career is over and done with, the minister in charge of parliamentary affairs bounces back stronger than ever before.

After all, at 56, he did survive three prime ministers in his 11 years (and counting) as federal minister, on top of one parliamentary term as a deputy minister.

And almost every time there is a cabinet reshuffle, political observers are almost sure that the four-term MP will be dropped having been one of the most outspoken politicians of his generation, sometimes at his party's peril.

Who can forget the 2005 episode when he shouted at and called Ipoh Barat DAP MP M Kulasegaran "racist" 28 times in Parliament, or when he screamed "stupid" at DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang in 2007.

Nazri was back into the limelight recently defending the government when allegations of its ties with Perkasa became a hot political potato, eventually escalating into an all-out row with the Malay rights NGO.

While it made him a target especially with hardcore Perkasa supporters, ironically however, the Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia and many others threw their weight behind the maverick politician.

In the third part of the exclusive interview with Malaysiakini , Nazri opens up about the ‘hatchet man" rumours that shadow him, and the infamous open letter .

‘I don't want to be hero'

Nazri claims that he does not have the personality of a hero. But it is difficult to see otherwise when he appears to be the only minister willing to take the bullet for the prime minister of the day.

In fact, at the height of the spat between fourth prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, it was Nazri who stood in the line of fire when the former's camp launched salvo after salvo at the prime minister.

And it is quite likely that Nazri would do the same for PM Najib Razak if Abdullah were to turn on him. Call him an "opportunist" or a "hatchet man", he has survived the labels.

To Nazri, he is just doing his job, nothing more.

"It's nothing personal. It's just my responsibility. I don't want to be a hero," he said, adding that the "hatchet man" label is merely a recognition of his ‘courage'.

"And people always say, ‘why must it always be Nazri? Why not other people?'. Well let me tell you. I'm the minister in the Prime Minister's department. When the prime minister gets attacked, you don't expect the prime minister to reply, it's the minister in the PM's department.

"If you don't want me to open my mouth, you put me in another ministry lah. I replied cos some of the issues were raised in the parliament," he said.

And he is not too bothered by the fact that no other cabinet ministers are as gung-ho.

As if to emphasize this point, he said:"I don't give a damn" or variations of it more than ten times about people's perception of him in the one and a half hour interview at his parliament office .

"When I do something, I don't go and ask them. I believe in what I'm doing and that I'm right. If you play football, your goal is to score goals. You don't ask ‘why is the fullback or right winger not scoring goals?'," he said.

But what about teamwork? What if they don't pass you the ball?

"Let me tell you, even if they don't pass me the ball, I'll go and find the ball and I'll score it. That's my character (laughing)."

But football doesn't work that way.

"I don't care what the obstacle is in front of me. I don't want to worry about other people. Because then you have second thoughts. So why should I bother about them? I just concentrate on my goals."

And your goal is to defend the PM?

"No, my goal is Malaysia. If we want to succeed, this is the only way."

‘MSM won't be fair to me'

But in one of the most remarked on actions in Nazri's recent political years was his open letter to online news portal The Malaysian Insider , where he openly stated "I am a Malaysian first and Malay next. Does any bigot have a problem with that?"

This came at the height of the spat between Nazri and Perkasa, following a near constant stream of attacks from an Utusan Malaysia columnist targeting the minister for his NGO stand.

But why write to an online portal, and no one else?

"I know I won't be given fair treatment by the mainstream media. For one, maybe they don't like me. Secondly, maybe there's space constraint, so they won't publish it in full.

"So yes, I turned to the alternative media. They've been fair to me. Sometimes they criticise me, and sometimes they support me. I don't think mainstream media would have printed my letter.

"And that is my right to reply (to the Utusan )," he said.

On the ‘ultra Malay' criticism following his two open letters, he once again threw caution to the wind.

"I don't really care what people think of me because when you think, you end up saying nothing, or something that people want to hear. And I cannot allow that to happen."

 

UMNO'S MAVERICK SPEAKS

Part 1: Red Book detention: Nazri unhappy with the police

Part 2 : Nazri: Umno will survive Perkasa

Part 3: Nazri Aziz: The 'accidental' hero

Part 4: Muslim conversion law reforms hit 'dead end'

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