YOURSAY | 'Nazri has more faces than a Sichuan 'bian lian (face-changing) performer.'
Nazri reaches for racial playbook in Semenyih
David Dass: I am actually quite surprised at BN secretary-general Nazri Abdul Aziz's statements. I always considered him someone who spoke bluntly but was not racist.
But to take the points that he made: The attorney-general (AG) has not always been Malay. There were two English attorney-generals after independence and one Indian. James Thomson was lord president in 1962. And Ong Hock Thye and Sarwan Singh Gill were chief justices.
His reference to the AG covering up alleged assailants of firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim because they were of the same skin colour was inflammatory. It also ignores the fact that the inquest is still going on to establish the cause of Adib’s death.
As a former minister, he should realise the complexity and sensitivity of the situation and not wade in to stoke the fires of racial strife. He goes further than that.
He suggests that both the AG and the chief justice cannot be trusted to look after the interest of the Malays because they do not take their oath of office on the Quran. That is nonsense. It is also highly racist and provocative.
Christians are also bound to any oath they take on the Bible. That oath will be sacred to them. Likewise, the Buddhists and the Hindus on their holy book.
Nazri points to former Argentine president Carlos Menem and misrepresents the truth about him. Menem was not forced to become a Catholic. He chose to become a Catholic because of his involvement in politics. He converted to Catholicism long before he became president.
There is a Muslim president in Singapore. There have been Muslim presidents in India. There are Muslim members of Congress in the US. There is a Muslim mayor of London. And there is a Muslim minister in the UK. Presumably, they all take their oaths of office on the Quran.
The idea that people of a particular skin colour cannot be trusted to look after the interest of Malays is racist, offensive and designed to inflame and provoke. It is wrong. Yes, so much for the BN.
Anonymous_4048: It's not how the oaths are taken. It's about the integrity of an individual person. It's about what principles a person lives by.
If a person lived by the principle of wanting to maintain power by hook or by crook, wanting to be rich, wanting to be respected, wanting popularity, wanting his or her race to be superior, so on and so forth - do you think such a person would not break his oath, even having sworn it on the holy book?
So it's about how one has lived one’s life, and not about how oaths are sworn.
Oxymoronic Tendencies: "Malays must be the priority in our struggle because if racial issues are not taken care of, there will definitely be riots." This pretty much sums up Nazri.
Of course, there will be racial tensions with people like Nazri roaming freely around stirring racial tension and unrest in this manner.
Isn’t Nazri the man who was kowtowing to Anwar during the Port Dickson by-election and claiming him as his best mate?
Nazri has more faces than a Sichuan bian lian (face-changing) performer. Truly a “snake in the grass” if ever there was one. He is the ultimate BN hypocrite.
Observer123: Nazri is a cunning opportunist trying to play his cards right, depending on the circumstances. When BN was in power, he attacked the current prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, relentlessly.
Recently, he was trying to rub shoulders with the prime minister-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim. Now he plays the race card in a ceramah.
His opportunistic behaviour is crystal clear. It won’t do the Pakatan Harapan government any good if this unscrupulous ex-tourism minister is allowed to stir up emotions to suit his own agenda.
TCM: Nazri, what is important is that the people who serve the country serve it well, regardless of race or religion.
The people who are serving are not out there with the sole purpose of removing the rights of one particular race. They are not so powerful and neither is that their interest. The rakyat too are not interested, so please stop making such incendiary remarks.
Do you seriously sleep well at night knowing that you are causing more hatred in the country? How do you love your country by trying to destroy it?
Cops probing Nazri for sedition over Semenyih speech
Kural: It is perhaps Nazri’s irresponsible style of racial propaganda politics to create tension among Malays, and thereby promote a ‘rounding up the wagons’ approach against non-Malays at the forthcoming by-election.
With this one reckless, racially discriminatory speech, he has irreparably stained his long career as a federal minister. For those who held the view that he was never a genuine Malaysian leader, this is no surprise.
However, to others, it is sad to see the fate of any individual Malaysian who had benefitted from the joint efforts and contributions of many Malaysians of various races come to this end, with a police report filed against him for racial prejudice.
KingKriolle: Nazri is a senior politician and was a cabinet member for many years.
He understands the laws well, being a lawyer and a former minister in charge of legal matters. So he cannot be excused for not knowing the seriousness of his speech. He is simply a foul-mouthed, irresponsible and cocky politician.
Just throw the book at him and charge him under the appropriate sections of the Sedition Act. Show him no mercy. Do not wait until there is bloodshed before the authorities decide to act decisively. By then, it will be too late.
Kickstart: Harapan has vowed to repeal the Sedition Act. Act now - drop all charges related to sedition and stop this nonsense once for all.
We all condemned former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s government like nobody’s business when the Sedition Act was used. And now this? Hopeless.
Cogito Ergo Sum: There are so many other laws under which this racist can be charged.
The Penal Code has several provisions relating to incitement. Why charge him with the very law that Harapan promised to repeal?
The Sedition Act 1948 is an archaic law that is a relic of the colonial era. And it is a double-edged sword. It can cut both ways.
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