INTERVIEW | The often-repeated narrative from Umno and its mouthpieces is that further empowering the predominantly Chinese DAP will threaten the position of the Malays and Islam in Malaysia.

Rubbishing this, DAP leaders, in turn, have accused Umno of attempting to manufacture a false perception to frighten the Malay electorate for fear of losing power and to divert attention from the scandals that plague the ruling coalition.

DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has repeatedly raised this subject and stressed that the party respects the Federal Constitution and this includes the special position of the Malays and Islam being the official religion of the federation.

In an interview with Malaysiakini, Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz, who prides himself as a straight-shooting politician, was asked if he viewed DAP in the same vein as many of his Umno colleagues.

“Whatever I think of DAP must be based on facts. First of all, you look at the make-up of the party. It claims to be a Malaysian party but when it comes to the time to elect their office-bearers, you will notice the odds are stacked in favour of the Chinese members.

“So for us looking from the outside, we can only look at the intention of how they are going ahead through the voting (patterns) of their members. As an outsider, I will come to the conclusion that DAP is a Chinese party,” he said.

Furthermore, Nazri claimed that the past remarks of certain DAP stalwarts also lent credence to this perception.

The minister said based on these remarks, he arrived at the conclusion that “...some of them were not happy with the current situation where Islam is given a place in the constitution.”

“And in their efforts to preach the so-called Malaysian Malaysia concept, you can sense there are elements of being 'anti-Islam' even though these were never directly mentioned as such.

“Many Muslims feel that they are anti-Islam and there must be an element of truth (in that),” he added.

In politics, DAP not my friend

On the same note, the veteran minister also stressed that he does not share political ties with DAP in light of key MCA leaders accusing him of colluding with the opposition party by zooming in on his friendship with Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

“I am no friend of DAP politically,” he clarified.

The Padang Rengas parliamentarian was earlier reported as saying that he, too, was not a friend of MCA, a key partner in the BN ruling coalition. He revealed that the MCA division in his constituency has boycotted him since the 2013 general election.

“The entire MCA Padang Rengas division committee is boycotting me, what can I do? So, MCA is not my friend,” he said in an interview with China Press last week.

MCA leaders have gone on the offensive against Nazri over his vitriolic remarks against billionaire Robert Kuok and for claiming that it is DAP, and not MCA, that is now representing the Chinese community in Malaysia.

THE NAZRI INTERVIEW

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