According to opposition stalwart Lim Kit Siang, both former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz were right in their ongoing spat on the issue of racism.

azlan He said Nazri was correct in labelling Mahathir a racist while the latter was spot on in his description of Umno as a racist organisation.

Nazri and Mahathir had been trading barbs over the curriculum of the National Civics Bureau programme, which the minister wants revamped, but the former premier defended.

Yesterday, Nazri raised the temperature a few more notches when he conferred on Mahathir the title 'father or all racism'.

NONE Meanwhile, Lim said the ball is now in Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's court since his deputy is playing 'chief cabinet hawk' in siding with Mahathir.

"Nazri is right in describing Mahathir as a racist in defending the divisive, racist and seditious BTN course and Mahathir is right in his response that Umno is a racist party," he said in a statement.

"The question is why Umno should continue to impose its racist ideology on the government and country and urn BTN into an instrument to purvey its racist philosophy and pernicious doctrine, totally subversive of the Vision 2020 concept of Bangsa Malaysia as well as 1Malaysia," he added.

Najib and the rest must speak up

So far, Lim said, only veteran Umno leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has come out publicly to call for the closure of BTN.

Whereas three Umno ministers, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Noh Omar and Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil have aligned themselves with Muhyiddin and Mahathir in defending the BTN programme.

Spreading a layer of sarcasm, Lim also took a swipe at Gerakan president and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Koh Tsu Koon.

NONE "Koh has waffled with an ambivalent and weak-kneed position, looking for excuses for Mahathir when he said that the former premier might not have been aware of the 'latest slant' in the BTN course though Mahathir would not appreciate Koh’s mitigation plea for him," he said.

Lim then asked what is the position of all the other cabinet ministers from Umno, MCA, MIC and from Sabah and Sarawak.

"Most important of all, what is Najib's position? Najib must be forewarned that with the BTN row and other recent developments, his 1Malaysia concept and slogan is virtually in tatters," he said.