Malay dominance and rights
Mukhriz Mahathir on being a Malay politician
"Secondly, we do not practise a policy of assimilation. We consider the Malay culture as being the dominant one, but we do not force it on anyone."
By Deborah Loh, The Nut Graph
IN five short years, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir has emerged from the sidelines in Umno to be a Member of Parliament (MP) for Jerlun, and now a popular candidate in the Umno Youth chief race.
Despite his soft-spoken demeanour, he has not shied away from controversy, no less because of his ties to his outspoken father, retired Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
In the 2006 Umno general assembly, Mukhriz wasn't reticent about expressing disappointment with Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's presidential speech. He called it unoriginal, sparking a wave of protests from some quarters within Umno.
In 2008, soon after the March general election, Mukhriz, by then an Umno Youth executive council member, became one of the early voices to call for Abdullah's resignation following the Barisan Nasional (BN)'s dismal performance. He wrote Abdullah a letter, exposed on the internet, which told Abdullah resigning would be the "honourable thing" to do.
In the second part of an exclusive interview with The Nut Graph conducted on 3 March, Mukhriz revisits his controversial statement about closing down vernacular schools in favour of a single-education system. He voices his concerns about Malay Malaysians being left behind, and talks about the Perak impasse. Mukhriz also shares how he views himself as a politician in a changing Malaysia — whether as a Malay one first, or as a Malaysian.
