Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has defended CIMB group chief executive officer Nazir Abdul Razak for speaking up for AirAsia X chief executive Azran Osman Rani.

"We are not siding with anyone. We just want to say what is right. We want to praise Nazir for speaking the truth," Lim told a press conference today.

dap special meeting 110313 lim guan eng "We hope his brother can be as brave as Nazir," Lim said as he read out yesterday's Utusan Malaysia report condemning Nazir as "anti-Malay".

"We hope there will be more Malaysians like Nazir. But unfortunately, there are not many," Lim sighed.

Nazir is the younger brother of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Azran has come under attack from the Umno-owned newspaper and Malay NGOs following a tweet in which he describing the daily as "racist" for its article, ‘Apa Lagi Cina Mahu'.

Azran's label for Utusan followed Najib's reaction after the 13th general election of May 5 that a " Chinese tsunami " caused Pakatan Rakyat to win 52 percent of the popular votes.

Yesterday, the Muslim Consumer Association of Malaysia also branded Nazir "anti-Malay" for praising Azran as having the "mark of the leader".

NONE Azran ( right ) faced a week-long round of attacks from Utusan for his controversial remarks, including reports from Umno veterans calling for a boycott of AirAsia.

Lim said Utusan has been trying to cause enmity among the different races in the country through its articles.

"But why should we be enemies of one another?" he asked.

Lim said the people had the freedom to choose the party they wanted in an election, and this is known as "democracy".

"Malaysians do not want to make enemies among themselves. The newspaper is very malicious by labelling others as traitors or anti-Malay," he added.

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