Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Nazri spews an earful at Utusan columnist

From: Rahwana71@gmail.com
Comments:
Akankan senario jaman pak lah berulang lagi? ---------------------------

Nazri spews an earful at Utusan columnist

By: Hemananthani Sivanandam (Sep 20, 2010)

newsdesk@thesundaily.com

PETALING JAYA (Sept 20, 2010): Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Aziz is taking on Malay daily Utusan Malaysia columnist Awang Selamat for accusing him of being "too chummy" with the opposition and questioned his allegiance to the prime minister.

"I would advise Awang to stick to what he does and knows best and not try to meddle in national politics of which he has shallow knowledge and zero experience," said Nazri in a strongly-worded letter today.
 
The letter was in response to Utusan's weekend editorial titled "Alahai Nazri" on Sunday under the Bisik-Bisik Mingguan column.

In the editorial, Awang wrote that Nazri is well liked by opposition leaders as he had been lenient with them and (as such had) not become a target of their criticism.

"According to stories from several Umno leaders, Nazri has been lenient with the opposition. According to stories, because of his strategy, Nazri is now well liked by opposition leaders.

"If that assumption is true, I can also ask who Nazri's real leader is — (Datuk Seri) Najib Abdul Razak, (Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim or perhaps Lim Kit Siang?" wrote Awang.

Nazri, in his letter which was provided to theSun, said that he is "always sure" of who his boss is and being civil with the opposition is the right thing to do.
 
"I want Awang to know that I am always sure who my boss is. It's neither Kit Siang nor Anwar because they are not the Prime Minister of Malaysia, the chairman of BN or president of Umno.

"Awang is caught in the time warp of those days where government MPs do not only not engage them but hate and dislike them in all circumstances.

"Awang will never understand this because he is not an elected MP put in the House of Parliament by the voice of the people," said Nazri.

Awang also wrote that Nazri has to accept the fact that Perkasa is merely a non-governmental organisation (NGO) and Malays know how to differentiate between a political party and an NGO.

On Sept 12, former prime minister  and Perkasa patron Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Umno risked losing the next general election if it completely rejected the Malays rights group.

Following this, Utusan Malaysia has been carrying opinions, features and stories that back the former premier and Perkasa.

The conservative Umno newspaper even published a series of quotes from ordinary Malays accompanied by photographs, under the headline "Majority of Malays support Perkasa".

This led Nazri to question if the newspaper was trying to undermine Najib's administration and conspire to replace the prime minister with Mahathir.

Awang in Sunday's column said he was surprised as to how Nazri could have such thoughts and accused the minister of being "anti-Mahathir".

"Even if I lose my job, I will still support Najib. There is no doubt about that. Therefore the question of having an agenda to make Dr Mahathir as a prime minister does not arise. Even a school kid knows that," he wrote.

Nazri refuted Awang's claims that he was anti-Mahathir and added that he has and will continue to lash out against those who criticised the government.

The Padang Renggas MP said that it was easier for Awang to write anything because he will not be punished by voters.

"Politicians like me who have stood for four general elections and won clearly have to be very careful in what we say and not be reckless like Awang.

"We need to muster all the votes regardless of race and we do not stay in the comfort zone as Awang does."

Nazri also said his agenda is to win the next general election, and to ensure that Najib remains as prime minister.

"I do hope that Awang also has the same agenda unless of course his boss is somebody else," he said.

Also see:

Nazri's open letter to Awang Selamat

--- end ---    --- Article Information --- This article was emailed from Sun2Surf. Article's URL: http://www.thesundaily.com/article.cfm?id=52002