Does Nazri deserve so much flak?

Nazri’s track record shows him to be an outspoken minister, never afraid to speak his mind.

FMT LETTERS

By Jason Chin

Not too long ago, Malaysia’s Culture and Tourism Minister, Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz was infamously involved in a verbal spat with the crown prince of Johor.

Malaysians in general took the side of Johor’s crown prince and condemned Nazri’s actions. Some called him ‘brainless’ while others urged the Prime Minister to drop him from the cabinet.

Is Nazri getting flak because he is a minister from Barisan Nasional(BN) or because what he did was ridiculously wrong?

Personally, I feel the only thing not right about Nazri’s action was a wrongly chosen word – ‘whacked’.

His message nonetheless, was right. If an individual from royalty decides to make comments or get involved in politics, then he should be prepared to be on the receiving end too. What is wrong with that?

Is Nazri really so bad that Malaysians in general want him out?

In the year 2010, Nazri got into a debate with ‘Awang Selamat’, a group pseudonym by Utusan editors that frequently voiced Malay-centric views.

Nazri openly said “Yes, I am Malaysian first and Malay next. Does any bigot have a problem with that?” and went on to condemn Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Perkasa for propagating single-ethnic favouritism.

In June this year, Nazri bravely welcomed the entry of poet-activist A.Samad Said into the DAP.

He said “This is a good thing. It seems skin doesn’t matter anymore. It’s all about the ideology now.”

He went on to add “Gone are the days when the DAP was called a chauvinist Chinese party.”

Nazri even admitted that he envisions welcoming non-Malays to join UMNO provided they adhered to UMNO’s struggles and respected the constitutional rights of the Malays.

How many ministers, past or present are daring enough to make such a declaration?

In 2005, Nazri created history when he shouted “racist” 28 times in Parliament against racist bigots. He even called Mahathir a “bloody racist” when Mahathir played the racial card in his attacks against Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi when the latter was the prime minister.

In 2014, when a Muslim-father kidnapped his child from a Hindu-mother, Nazri rallied with cries from the opposition and publicly condemned IGP Khalid Abu Bakar for failing to carry out the orders of the High Court.

Back then when Nazri was the Entrepreneur Development Minister, he spearheaded the intake of non-bumiputera students into MARA colleges despite heavy protest from students and certain groups of politicians.

When there was a proposal to hire more foreigners in Penang to be chefs, two years ago, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng strongly opposed the notion.

The only BN minister to take Lim’s side was Nazri when he openly said he agrees with Lim to bar foreigners from being hired as cooks in local food outlets to protect the state’s food heritage. For this, Nazri received lots of criticism from other BN leaders especially representatives from MCA. Some even accused him of working with the opposition.

More recently, when the whole Vivekananda Ashram issue broke out in Birckfields, it was Nazri who came out first defending the ashram and assuring he would fight tooth and nail to get it a heritage status that irked the trustees.

If you look back at Nazri’s track record, he has always been the outspoken minister who is never afraid to speak his mind.

Yes, sometimes he speaks unconventionally but he sticks to what he believes is right even if it means going against leaders from BN.

Nazri is never afraid to stand up against anybody, be it a member from the royal family or the don Mahathir. For his robust style, Nazri is often labelled a ‘gangster’ but that does not deter him from speaking his mind. He once declared he will always speak what he feels is right irrespective of circumstances and even if it means risking losing his Cabinet post.

Over the years, Nazri too has not been sparred from scandals and allegations. At least in Nazri however, you are assured of a someone who is never afraid to voice his opinion, even if it is unpopular.

Jason Chin is an FMT reader