COMMENT | BN secretary-general Nazri Abdul Aziz is a racist. There is no doubt about it. He condemns himself as such by his revolting utterances that must be seen as promoting racism.
His vast experience as a cabinet minister has not mellowed him or broadened his mindset. He continues to be a petty Umno politician spewing hatred based on race. Bigotry clearly seems to be part of him.
He is a lawyer so he cannot be a moron, but strangely his views are moronic since he uses the differing concept of “rights” and “privileges” interchangeably.
While speaking at a ceramah in Semenyih, he accused the Pakatan Harapan government of being weak and that it had surrendered the “rights” of the Malays to others.
He doesn’t explain how a government with a majority of Malay MPs supporting Pakatan Harapan could be weak. That is baffling! He doesn’t clarify what Malay “rights” have been surrendered to others. Clearly, it is this kind of blind, sweeping statements that are deliberately intended to rile up the Malays. Nazri had no qualms over inciting the Malays with his moronic reasoning.
He cleverly camouflages this statement by attributing this diabolical sentiment to others by adding, “As some said, (we are) surrendering our rights to others.”
We have all kinds of stupid people saying idiotic things; do you, Nazri, agree with them? Do you truly believe that the Harapan government had surrendered the “rights” of the Malays to others? If you don’t believe in this nonsense, what is the point in repeating this silly argument? It does no credit to your intelligence!
Nazri bemoans, "Many things that never happened before are happening now – (look at the appointment of the) attorney-general, chief justice and finance minister.
"Lots of issues that were unimaginable before are an issue now. As some said, (we are) surrendering our rights to others," he told his audience of about 80 people.
Utter rubbish!
Nazri, tell us honestly are these three positions reserved for Malays under the Federal Constitution? If not, why do you speak such nonsense! He even sounds stupid when he claims that such positions are “strategic” and should only be held by Malays in order to uphold the Federal Constitution and Islam.
This is utter rubbish!
Instead of welcoming the competent and the best for the posts to benefit the country, he insists that the positions of the chief justice, attorney-general and finance minister are strategic and must be held by Malays.
Weren’t these positions previously held by Malays and Muslims for umpteen years and what did they achieve for the nation and for the Malays? How did the Malays benefit from these three Malay/Muslims holding these “strategic positions”? Please tell us! We beg of you!
What we know of the past practice of appointing Malays to these positions is that the judiciary became corrupt and lost its lofty sheen. It lost the confidence of the public and some of the decisions became jokes.
The former attorney-general was a Malay and a former judge, but shamelessly he cleared the vilest kleptocrat in world history as being clean, honest and blameless in spite of an avalanche of evidence incriminating him. He did not act in the best interest of the nation; he only acted in the interest of his political master and sacrificed justice.
The previous finance minister was a Malay and a former prime minister, but he left the country in horrendous financial ruins after allegedly looting and plundering the nation’s wealth. Every crook in the country was dipping his hand into the coffers and pillaging without a conscience under his tutelage.
Is this what Nazri wants for Malaysia – unethical, unscrupulous Malays who have no sense of shame in perpetuating injustice to the detriment of the country? Does he want Malaysia to become a laughing stock of the world?
Come on lah, have some sense when you speak!
Without clarification or explanation, Nazri cited the death of firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim as an apparent example of how appointing non-Malays to such positions was bad for the Malays.
Continuing his tirade, he states, "Take, for example, the attorney-general. Everyone said Adib was sacrificed. We ask why no charges were brought against the people who were arrested for allegedly assaulting Adib back then. None has been charged.”
What does he mean by “everyone”? I don’t fall into this category. Neither does any of my friends from different ethnicity believe this nonsense. Does every Malaysian think so? It is an idiotic statement without any basis.
To date, it has not been conclusively established that Adib was indeed assaulted. There are conflicting claims on the cause of his death at the inquest into his death. That being the case, how do you charge anyone just like that? Isn’t there the rule of law and due process, Nazri?
His atrocious claim is indeed shocking and sickening.
"People can see that the attorney-general and the suspects have the same skin colour, so don't blame the Malay because they thought the attorney-general is not fair,” he argues.
According to Suhakam chairperson, Razali Ismail, “Nazri’s claims that the death of firefighter Muhamad Adib Mohd Kassim has gone unpunished due to the fact that the AG is not Malay are extremely offensive.”
You as a lawyer, and supposedly endowed with intelligence, don’t you consider it your duty to put things straight? Shouldn’t you tell your fools that their thinking was utterly wrong and that Tommy Thomas doesn’t act according to the colour of the skin? By stating this, Nazri, you are questioning the integrity of the attorney-general. This is a very serious position to take when there is no basis for it.
For a lawyer, you are talking utter rubbish!
His convoluted logic continues! He claimed that Malay distrust stemmed from the fact that the three new office-bearers he mentioned could not hold the Quran when they were sworn in. "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," he said.
When MPs and cabinet ministers were sworn in, were they holding the Quran? When Dr Mahathir Mohamad was sworn in as the prime minister by the Agong, he wasn’t holding a Quran! When Nazri was sworn in as an MP, did he take his oath of office holding a Quran? Even the Agong, when he was crowned, was not holding a Quran.
Where did Nazri get the idea that the attorney-general, the chief justice and the finance minister must take their oath holding a Quran? Was this a constitutional requirement? Was it mandatory?
According to Latheefa, "Nazri seems blissfully unaware that under the constitution, there is no requirement of an oath of office for the AG. In other words, the AG does not take an oath of office, unlike MPs or ministers.”
Nazri is not only confusing, he is confusion itself! Suddenly, and almost miraculously, Nazri has turned into our fabled Alice, creating confusion everywhere she goes in Wonderland!
His reference to Malay rights and vernacular schools only expose his ignorance of our history. Three communities came together to form a nation with mutually agreed upon terms of nationhood. There was quid pro quo among the three communities and formed the basis of the Social Contract.
Nazri wasn’t there when this arrangement was reached. But he is the beneficiary of that agreement today. Instead of shooting off his mouth, he should honour what our forefathers achieved to create this great nation.
Instead of maintaining and promoting peace and harmony, he is deliberately inciting hatred and uneasiness against the non-Malays and the Harapan government. It is a vile conduct that must be condemned because it threatens the Agong’s peace in the land.
His conduct reminds me of Benjamin Franklin’s remark: "Any fool can criticise, condemn and complain - and most fools do."
P RAMAKRISHNAN is a former president of Aliran.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
