Law Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz's declaration that he was "Malaysian first, Malay second" has drawn cheers from opposition veteran Lim Kit Siang, but he wonders if the rest of the cabinet are willing to state the same.

nazri abdul aziz Lim had first challenged all cabinet ministers to state that they were "Malaysian first" in line with Najib's 1Malaysia concept, on March 18 during the debate on the royal address in Parliament.

"For six long months, not a single cabinet minister dared to declare publicly that he or she is a Malaysian first and race second, until Nazri today!" said Lim in a statement.

"With the example set by Nazri ( left ), all 1Malaysia-minded ministers should declare their stand to demonstrate to Malaysians that the 1Malaysia policy is taken seriously by ministers themselves."

jeff join dap pc 310707 kit siang Lim ( right ) was commenting on Nazri's open-letter to Utusan Malaysia columnist Awang Selamat, accusing the latter of working against the 1Malaysia concept.  

In his letter Nazri said, "And yes I am a Malaysian first and Malay next. Does any bigot have a problem with that?"

Nazri also questioned if the author was sincere in his attempt to work in the interest of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who also heads Umno - the party that owns the newspaper.

'Nazri broke ranks with Muhyiddin '

Lim then went on to savage Muhyiddin Yassin, saving the bulk of his ammunition on the deputy premier with a long list of his 1Malaysia transgressions.

NONE Among others, Lim cited Muhyiddin's defence of Biro Tata Negara , attempts to mitigate the public outrage against the prime minister’s former special aide Nasir Safar and "his ham-fisted attempt to aide and abet" Utusan Malaysia and other government-controlled media organisations to brand the Penang Pakatan Rakyat administration of being " anti-Mala y" and "anti-Islam".

Lim said Muhyiddin ( left ) confirmed his criticisms when the deputy minister declared on March 31 that he was " Malay first ". 

"Although it has taken more than six months for Nazri to break ranks with Muhyiddin for the former to declare that he is Malaysian first and Malay second...it is better late than never," said Lim.

Lim suggested that all non-Malay ministers from BN component parties should also follow Nazri's example.

"I would suggest that the last one - of the four MCA ministers and seven deputy minister (who manages to come forward to) make a 1Malaysia declaration - should be sacked from the cabinet," he said.