Nurul Izzah – the target of the next Umno ‘madness’
By Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle
In what her supporters slam as a bald attempt to dampen the rising popularity of Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah, the daughter of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s mainstream media has launched an onslaught of reports that insinuate she is a traitor to her own race and wants to abolish the “special rights” of the Malays.
“This will be their next madness. Since when did Nurul or Pakatan question the special position of the Malays? The only people Nurul has questioned are Perkasa and Ibrahim Ali,” PKR strategic director Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.
“This is a clear attempt to tarnish Nurul and to make her unpopular with the Malays because Pakatan has reiterated countless times it is committed to defending the existing federal constitution. Umno is afraid she will become as popular as her dad especially with the Malay youth.”
The next madness
Indeed, the Umno press have pushed out a slew of reports from top leaders right up to Prime Minister Najib Razak warning against “anyone” who questioned the “social contract” established by the country’s founding fathers in 1957.
A line-up of experts was also roped in to criticize Nurul for her widely-praised two-part article Malaysia or Malaysaja that questioned the domineering politics championed by the Umno government. But her words were spun into an outright challenge of the Malay position in society.
“The special position of the Malays started since a long time ago and based on the system of government existed then. In the peninsula, nine Malay kingdoms existed since 1895, and continue to exist until today. They don’t understand the constitution and are ignorant of what they can or cannot do. There shouldn’t be any debate on the constitution because what is important is to follow what has been in use for so long,”Bernama reported Prof Emeritus Dr Khoo Kay Kim as saying.
