'Non-Malay should not be AG' remark reflects Malay sentiment - Nazri

BN secretary-general Nazri Abdul Aziz said his speech, where he said a non-Muslim should not be an attorney-general, was merely a reflection of grassroots sentiment.

"What I said about the attorney-general (is) I am stating facts on the ground - that (there is) fear (among) the Malays that probably, if the AG is not a bumi or Malay, then there is a fear of bias.

"And this happened. The case of Adib is a fact," he told a press conference at Umno's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

Nazri was referring to the death of firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim after sustaining injuries during a riot in November.

The former minister said four people were charged for hurting Adib but the charges were then dropped after the firefighter succumbed to his injuries.

"This has caused some anxieties among the Malay grassroots. So if I say something which is actually happening on the ground, it cannot be seditious.

"(I am) merely stating a fact. I did not instigate the people," he said.

However, Nazri's claim was not factual. The four individuals referred by Nazri were never charged.

Instead, police were probing the four for assaulting Adib, only to reclassify investigations as a murder probe after he passed away.  

The cause of Adib's death is currently being investigated by a Coroner's Court.

Police question Nazri

Nazri's speech was made in Beranang on Saturday.

Today, he confirmed that he was questioned by the cops about the speech after reports were lodged against him.

“They (the police) are very efficient, there was a police report against me and they called me this morning and I gave them my statement,” he said. 

Apart from his comments on the attorney-general, Nazri had also said the chief justice and finance minister should not be non-Muslim because they could not take their oath of office by swearing on the Quran. 

"An individual swearing before the Yang di-Pertuan Agong must use the Quran because the king is a Muslim. If one does not use the Quran, then he or she is not bound to the oath taken.

"I can just hold a dictionary and I swear anything because I know this is just a normal book," he said.

To emphasise his allegation, Nazri claimed that former Argentine president Carlos Menem, whose parents are from Syria, was forced to convert to Catholicism in order to take his oath of office in 1989.

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