Nazri: Non-Malays have the right to ask

By Hemananthani Sivanandam, TheSun

"I certainly don’t condone this. In public, you say we are 1Malaysia and then you say we are the BN and we have a spirit of our own and then later, you show that you are quarrelling. What message are you giving to the public?" he asked.

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 19, 2010): Non-Malays are not questioning the rights of Malays when they ask for what they think they deserve, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said today.

"They are merely asking for what they think they deserve. For example, if a non-Malay student with 9As and comes from a poor family asks for a scholarship, what is wrong with that? He deserves it, and it’s a valid request," he said.

"So it does not make sense when people say such valid requests are questioning the rights of the Malays," he said after meeting representatives from the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Hua Zong) led by its president Pheng Yin Huah at Parliament House.

Nazri: So it does not make sense when people
say such valid requests are questioning the rights
of the Malays.
The federation had asked for the meeting to discuss several issues, including the 1Malaysia concept mooted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.

Nazri said the 1Malaysia concept took into consideration what had been provided in the Federal Constitution. "It’s clear; so what is there to fight about? We know each other’s privileges and our rights and we respect each other. What’s in the Constitution won’t be affected by the 1Malaysia concept," he said.

Nazri stressed that it was not true that the non-Malays were questioning the Constitution, as they were only asking for what they feel they ought to have.

"Why do we have to show this guilty conscience on our part to interpret that every time (they raise such issues), it means they are questioning our rights? I don’t understand!" Nazri said.

Asked to comment on the recent debates between the Barisan Nasional’s two biggest coalition parties — Umno and MCA — over a resolution passed at the recent Chinese economic congress, the Padang Rengas MP said the squabbling did not impose confidence on the public in the spirit of 1Malaysia.

The MCA and its president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek have come under a barrage of criticism from senior cabinet ministers and Malay rights groups following the release of the congress’s 13-point resolution, which included a call for the gradual reduction of the 30% bumiputra quota.

"I certainly don’t condone this. In public, you say we are 1Malaysia and then you say we are the BN and we have a spirit of our own and then later, you show that you are quarrelling. What message are you giving to the public?" he asked.

"That is why, I realise now, why there is so little respect for politicians .... because they say one thing and they do another thing, and I don’t blame all of you (the public), if you’ve got no respect for politicians.
Sadly, I belong to this group. But we will try to bring back confidence of the public to ourselves," he said.

Asked if he agreed with the resolutions passed at the economic congress on the abolition of the 30% bumiputra equity quota, Nazri merely said that genuine partnerships between the bumiputras and non-bumiputras ought to exist.

"I would like to promote a Malaysian venture. If they are asking to abolish and they want a fair share, that means it’s a 50-50 partnership. I would rather go for a partnership which is Malaysian in nature, bumiputra and non-bumiputra," added Nazri.