Malaysian Insider's photoNazri Abdul Aziz, Minister in Prime Minister's Department, is, to say the least, a most controversial character.
I used to call him the PM’s chief head kicker (during AAB’s reign). Nazri was like a Transformer unleashed when he attacked Dr Mahathir. He has done it again to protect Najib and the PM’s 1Malaysia.
Even Sakmongkol (Dr Mahathir’s supporter) grudgingly conceded his admiration for Nazri’s head kicking style, though he (Sakmongkol) couldn't resist sneaking in a shot at Najib at the same time .
Nazri is disliked for many pronouncements e.g. calling Dr Pornthip a liar.
Today, coincidentally after I published Hats & responsibilities, which discusses Dr Mahathir’s lamentable final reversion to his Malay Dilemma’s days and attitudes, and through that, his continuous undermining of Najib’s various attempts to win back the support of the nons, Nazri wrote an open letter to Awang Selamat, shooting down one of Utusan’s foremost bigoted demagogues. I admire what he wrote.
Nazri said in his parting shot at Awang Selamat: “And yes I am a Malaysian first and Malay next. Does any bigot have a problem with that?”
I wonder whether Nazri had also intended a non too subtle message for DPM Muhyiddin, the one who’s 'a Malay first and then only a Malaysian'.
Muhyiddin has also been perceived as dodgy in his support of the PM’s policy, and more aligned with Dr Mahathir, the patron saint of Perkasa.
As I said, Nazri is not known as the PM’s head kicker for nothing.
Now, many of you may not remember there’s also a decent side to Nazri Aziz. For a start, he is against capital punishment when most in his party including Sakmongkol support the death sentence.
Really, I can never fathom the mentality of educated people who supports state murder ... yup, because that’s what capital punishment is, murder sanctified by man-made laws. This is where Asians (e.g. China, Singapore, Malaysia, and even Buddhist Thailand) and some states in the USA are zillions of civilised miles behind (western) Europe, Australia and Kiwi-land.
Then at a time when Eli Wong of PKR was running through a rough patch because of an unconscionable, unethical and unscrupulous bastard, Nazri had actually stood up to console and support Eli while the weaselling spineless PKR leadership was still vacillating. Even MCA’s Chew Mei Fun spoke up for Eli.
Nazri had then said: I sympathise with the executive councillor, this thing should have not happened as she is the people's representative and she had been performing her duties.
Therefore, to foil what she has done for the community in this manner is not good. But I hope her spirits (remain strong) and she will not bother about what has happened.
For more of the story, read my post UMNO's Nazri supports Elizabeth Wong, PKR's Khalid Ibrahim equivocates.
I had then lambasted Khalid Ibrahim, writing: For f* sake, just look at what Nazri Abdul Aziz of UMNO had said, in stark contrast to your beating around the bush and preparing the grounds for Eli's dismissal (or forced resignation).
May I remind you again that Nazri is UMNO, you are PKR and Eli is PKR!
Gawd, gasp, omigosh (Eli's lovely expressions), what a f*up party PKR is!
To echo Sakmongkol’s words, Looks like "... Najib needs more people like him [Nazri] in the Cabinet after all. If Najib is wimpish he needs others to provide him with the sinews to his bones."
We may not like Nazri for some of his statements, but I have to salute him for standing up to bigoted demagogues like Jabba the Hutt and Awang Selamat.
Oh my, your public enemy number one is now hailed as your hero.
ReplyDeleteJust because he said he's Malaysian first, Malay second.
You believe that? From one who is depending on his Padang Rengas voters who are mainly Malays!
Dind't hear Najib or CSL or Samy saying that they are Malaysians first.
Still awaiting the Anwar fella to say it since he thrive on the support of the non-Malays.
Take it as face value. Nazri has to support his boss Najib in his 1Malaysia ideals.
He will revert back to his old self if some other issues crop out.
Be mindful that Nazri is true-blue UMNO. He is also wary about his political survival.
This is just a shouting match, to be taken lightly.
Nazri is the only Amno leader whom I respect.
ReplyDelete"Racial polarisation in the country is not caused by the country's vernacular school system but more by the government political, education and economic discriminative policies." - an educationist said today.
ReplyDeleteThe prime minister and all the Umno ministers will never admit that polarisation arises more out of the race-based policies and privileges one race gets over another.
Similarly, there are other areas of our daily lives where terminologies used have made us view certain practices as privileges rather than sacrifices. For instance, the bumi discount for houses.
The total sale value to the developer is still the same. It is just that the non-malay buyer is likely to be required to pay for some of the discount given to the malays.
But the longer the NEP policies continue and the greater the vehemence with which Umno politicians issue threats, terminologies will change and more people will talk about these practices or policies in words that may not sound as pleasing to the ears of the beneficiaries.
Obviously, at that point we shall probably see a new round of discriminations and disagreements. Unfortunately, as long as only weak people take on leadership roles within Umno, threats will continue, NEP policies will be sustained and corruption will prevail.
That unfortunately is the legacy we have as Malaysians.
The basic building blocks of unity, whether you are uniting different ethnic groups in a country or trying to re-engineer a corporation of differing cultural values, are the same.
The principal parties have to be treated as equals - nor special privileges no favours that would favour one group over another. Any privilege that is given should be given to all on the same basis - for example, special privilege given to the financially poor regardless of race or ethnic origin.
It is only on this equitable footing that you can foster true nationalism and build lasting unity, since each component group will have the same stake in the nation and has equal likelihood in reaping the rewards or suffering the consequences.
My recommendation to the government, not simply as a businessman but also based on pragmatism, is not to waste any more taxpayer ringgit on nationalism programmes until it has established the pre-conditions for its success.
What is sad is that, after almost five decades of independence, we have been unable in Malaysia, to bring globally-vision leaders to the forefront - leaders who can see beyond racial boundaries to recognise the immense sociological and economic potential that can benefit all Malaysians.
Is the language diversity in our educational system a stumbling block to so-called 'national unity'? Despite the insistence of this idea by the self-interested ruling elite, it is simply wrong.
ReplyDeleteAnd the common use of English did not stop Americans from fighting Britons in the War of Independence. And let us not forget the American Civil War - both sides spoke English.
And to the contrary, we see Europeans of different mother tongues coming together in a democratic manner to forge a united continent in the form of the multilingual European Union with common standards of human rights, governance and democracy.
English-speaking people with different mother tongues are also now living peacefully in five different sovereign and independent countries namely the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
It is time for the Malaysia ruling elite and their ideologues to stop spreading the voodoo of that language diversity hampers national unity.
The root cause of national disunity is none other than the existence of race-based political parties like Umno, MIC and MCA, which perpetuate race-based affirmative action policies and which only benefit the upper class BN gangs and their sons, daughters and cronies.
My school in the 50s and 60s when terms like bumis and non-bumis did not exist.
ReplyDeleteBack then, there was a kind of kindred among school children then that does not exist today. We were racially different but we were all equal in every other way. Nobody was - special.
Today when a non-malay student goes to school, he has already been told over and over again by his parents that, "You will have to do superlatively in order to get into a local university."
The child comes back having done creditably well, and doesn't get the university course of his choice. But his malay classmate, with worse marks than him, gets more than he asked for.
All these double standards and retrogressive policies were put in place by our selfish politicians whose aim, rather than uplifting the malays, was to perpetually stay in power for their own good.
The end result is a new generation of Malaysians who are not united in the least.
The first thing to be done towards a real Bangsa Malaysia is to pull down all divisions that categorise us along racial and religious lines.
All, irrespective of race and religion, must be subjected to a truly merit-based system in every sphere of Malaysian life.
All political parties that exploit any form of religion should be banned.
The issue of vernacular primary schools has little to do with national integration. The medium of instruction doesn't matter. The biggest issue of vernacular primary schools is simply that the quality clearly points to the failure of Umno-led BN government, the legitimacy of the very philosophies and policies particularly its hegemonistic malay agenda.
ReplyDeleteIf the vernacular primary schools are allowed to expand, clearly the percentage of malays in these Chinese primary schools would expand striking at the heart of the malay agenda. It would increase integration but not the malay agenda.
There is no proof that different medium of instruction decrease national unity. What would decrease national integration would be if they thought different philosophy - and for example - religion based schools. Even military schools have been shown to breed disintegration of its students from the larger population.
The idea of teaching Mandarin and Tamil to attract non-malays to national schools is a non-starter. Firstly, again the medium of instruction is a low low issue compared to the quality of education, secondly, there is already a severe shortage of Mandarin and Tamil teachers that national schools would never be able to do even a half-past-six job of it.
Thirdly, so long as Islamization of national schools is not stopped in its tracks, non-malays would always avoid it, simply because learning is just harder in a marginalized uncomfortable environment.
Vernacular schools are allowed to continue as it is simply because removing it would be perceived and rightly so, as eroding the citizen rights of non-malays, i.e. the very right of education - the only upward mobility tool the non-malays has. Non-malays second class citizenship will become third class with things like further Islamization of this country.
The issue of vernacular schools is not about national integration, it is about hegemonistic malay agenda. The fact it is an issue points to heart of our national problem.
The truth is that the ability of education to bring people together is limited. On top of that, education - at least secular one - is about the pursuit of knowledge and truth, and hence whatever is taught in schools should be based on the reality and truth in order to unite the students.
ReplyDeleteBut when our society is already polarised by the law and other economic realities, and we tell our children otherwise in school, its likely that the unity lessons will never stick for long or even worse result in a backlash.
What is more distressing is the fact that national education policy is only meant for the masses while our political leaders send their children overseas. Can we believe they have faith in our own educational facilities and that they are sincere in wanting the best for us?
In Malaysia, unfairness is institutionalised. For example, it is alright for certain schools or universities like the Universiti Institut Teknologi Mara to bar non-malays.
So it piques me to hear some blaming vernacular schools for racial tensions. Vernacular schools have never barred malays from enrolling into them unlike Mara educational institutions. If vernacular schools are to be blamed, so too must the Mara institutions.
A minister responsible for higher education who can make such inflammatory statements confirms that the so-called meritocracy system of university entrance is a sham, since he is able to promise that the percentage for malay applicants will never fall below the previous quota percentage.
Is he suggesting that we should rejoice over our poor education? Please do not confuse quality with quantity.
I cannot help but think that the politicians have an ulterior motive. If so, please be honest and brave enough to admit it.
With such narrow-minded people in charge, it is difficult to have confidence in any of their suggestions.
When it came to choosing a career, I avoided public services for the fear of being excluded from promotions just like how I was excluded from matriculation etc. Many employers are also very racially defined.
Now, as much as I miss hanging out with people of other races, I end up being with people of my own race.
Looking back, I don't think our primary vernacular system is the cause of disunity. On the contrary, it enriches our Malaysia heritage. The real problems are with the uneven playing fields that split malays and non-malays from secondary school onwards.
Another examples are the Chinese Indonesians. Most of them don't even speak their mother tongue, nor do they even carry Chinese names anymore, yet come any major political turmoil, they are targeted by the majority. Is this due to vernacular education?
The government should be aware of the fact that the number of Chinese schools has not increased over the past 30 years despite the need for them due to increased demand from both Chinese and non-Chinese students.
The diversity of education methods in the country is a national treasure and should be upheld. Unity will come from mutual respect and fair treatment for all - not necessarily from a uniform education.
Whether they will take concrete steps to address the imbalance is another matter for, while I am optimistic about the people of Malaysia, I have very little faith in politicians.
We cannot say that we respect this Nazri. We don't name him as Nazi or as the Taxi driver or menteri teksi for nothing.
ReplyDeleteCan only respect some of his text but the rest of his statements are in the same level as 3 rd class comedian.
He also said that " Kita tidak tau bahawa dia (the late Teoh Beng Hock ) akan terjun selepas di benarkan balik kerumah "
We do have a lot of weird menteris and politicians in this country.
The best words that came out from his foul mouth so far will be " I am a Malaysian first and as a Malay next..you bigots have a problem with that ?"
Even the lengthy and well composed but cakap tak serupa bikin speeches by raja nazrin can't come close.
All those citizens who refuse to declare "I am a Malaysian first" should be stripped of their citizenship and shipped out as pendatangs to Antarctica, where the penguins have bumi and NEP status.
ReplyDeleteThen they'll become pendatangs ;-)
ReplyDeletepolitcks politics...
ReplyDeleteI hope he can become a monk one day
should ' i'm malaysian 1st ' from a mulut-bumi win non-bumi votes come the GE13 ....hahahahaha !
ReplyDelete