From: Rahwana71@gmail.com
Comments:
Ada yang tak kena ke? ---------------------------
Nazri's open letter to Awang Selamat
By: (Sep 20, 2010)I HAVE read the comments by Awang Selamat on me in his column. I want to make some clarifications lest readers might be misled into thinking what he wrote is correct.
Firstly, I am never afraid to be criticised by the opposition. I would like Awang to come to Parliament and see and hear for himself the vitriols and attacks I received whilst defending the government on issues related to the prime minister's office. In my 33 years of politics, I was never spared by anybody who make criticism against me, including the recent comments by Awang.
I don't know about Awang himself because I don't even know who he is. I hope he can be a man like me and prove that he is not scared of criticism by coming out in the open and not hiding behind the pseudonym that he used.
I am also not anti-(Tun) Dr Mahathir (Mohamad). To me, so far, he is the best prime minister I have served. However, as an ex-premier, there is so much left to be desired.
Awang should get out of his time warp and face the fact that I am now in the government as a minister in the Prime Minister's Department and not vice versa. So it is Tun Mahathir criticising the government and not the other way around.
Of course, anybody regardless who criticises the government will receive relentless attacks in defense of the government by me just as I had done in the past when Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah (Ahmad Badawi) were prime ministers.
Having said that, I want Awang to know that I am always sure who my boss is. It's not (Lim) Kit Siang nor (Datuk Seri) Anwar (Ibrahim) because they are not prime ministers of Malaysia, the chairman of Barisan Nasional or president of Umno. I am not too sure Awang knows who his boss is because he undermines the 1Malaysia policy of the prime minister and promotes the narrow racism of Ibrahim Ali who is not even an Umno member.
Awang should be asking himself the question he posed to me.
Being civil to the opposition is the right thing to do in a democracy because just like me, they are also elected by the people. Of course, 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 by the voice of the people.
Anyway, has Awang ever thought of how five PKR MPs could cross to the independent group, if not for the civility shown by me to them as Parliamentary Affairs Minister? The number of crossovers to the independent caucus has exceeded the single MP from Pasir Mas, this so called Malay Hero worshipped by Awang.
Incidentally, Umno has never asked or needed for Ibrahim to help us but association with him will only cause us to lose votes. Tun Mahathir himself told us about his loss in Kota Setar Selatan seat in a 90% Malay majority parliamentary constituency in 1969 to Yusof Rawa where it was reported that Tun said he didn't need Chinese votes. There is a lesson to be learned from this.
Of course, Awang will never understand because not only he has never offered himself as a candidate for the general election but readers don't even know who he is.
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. He can write and say anything irresponsibly and recklessly knowing that he will never be punished by the voters.
That is why Awang, if you ask what my agenda is, I think every school children will know that it's to win the next general election and that Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak remains as prime minister of Malaysia. I do hope that Awang also has the same agenda unless of course his boss is somebody else.
Finally, 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. He should concentrate on increasing his paper's dwindling readership. It speaks volumes on their poor standard and performance when Utusanhas to refer to the news report from the new electronic media when it should be the reverse.
That will be his KPI and the measurement of his success in the field that he claims he represents well.
Mine is, of course, to win the Padang Rengas seat for BN in the next general election regardless whether I am a candidate or not. Until then,we shall see.
And, yes, I am a Malaysian first and Malay next. Does any bigot have a problem with that?
Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Aziz
Minister in the Prime Minister's Dept
--- end --- --- Article Information --- This article was emailed from Sun2Surf. Article's URL: http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=52001
