Pua questions Najib’s commitment to 1 Malaysia
By Adib Zalkapli, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 – DAP publicity chief Tony Pua accused Datuk Seri Najib Razak today of abandoning his own 1 Malaysia concept in his speech to retired senior civil servants last night.
The Petaling Jaya Utara MP (picture) said, the prime minister’s remarks marks a 180 degree turn from his call for moderation made at the United Nations late last month.
“Najib asked the questions like a true Perkasa ‘hulubalang’ and gave away his true colours as a Prime Minister who is ‘Malay first’ instead of ‘Malaysian first’ as defined in his own 1Malaysia concept in the Government Transformation Programme (GTP),” said Pua in a statement today.
“It fully explains his lack of willingness to mete out harsh punishments against those who has spewed racist comments over the past few years including Penang’s Ahmad Ismail, the teachers who insulted minority races, his own special assistant Nasir Safar as we’ll as most recently, the BTN Deputy Director who referred to Indians as ‘si Botol’,” the first term MP said.
When addressing the newly-formed Umno supporters club made up of retired senior civil servants yesterday, Najib slammed the opposition parties, accusing them of questioning the special position of the Malays, not praying for well-being of the Yang DiPertuan Agong and planning to open up the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) to non-Malays.
“I want to ask who were the ones who questioned Article 153 in the Constitution? Malay privileges, who questioned them? Who caused the incident of not offering prayers for the wellbeing of the King? Who wanted Universiti Teknologi Mara to be opened to the non-Malays? Not Umno but the other side,” Najib was quoted as saying by Bernama in the closed-door event.
The Umno president also warned the civil servants that only the Malay party that can “ensure our survival.”
Pua, however, accused Najib of lying in his speech.
“Who exactly was Najib referring to who questioned the Article 153 of the Federal Constitution? We would however question those who abuse to articles of the constitution to grant special privileges to political cronies, the already rich and influential,” said Pua.
“The accusation of the King’s name being replaced by others by the Penang state government in prayers at the mosque has been explained as being completely unfounded. Najib’s lie is hence completely unethical and made with ill-intent,” he added.
Pua also defended Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim for proposing to UiTM to offer places for non-Malays in order to encourage diversity, adding that the idea has been taken out of context by Najib and the Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia.
“Najib has instead succumbed to Perkasa’s tactics of stirring race discord with racial rhetoric, proving himself to be like his Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who had proclaimed himself to be Malay first, Malaysian second,” said Pua.
“It also explains why Najib has taken extra pains not to criticize Perkasa for their non-stop racist and extremist posturing, despite them causing increased racial tensions and dissatisfaction in the country,” he added.
Pua also asked Najib to respect the political independence of the civil servants.
“The Prime Minister is clearly unable to differentiate between loyalty to the government as opposed to loyalty to a particular political party,” said Pua.
“While the civil service needs to be loyal to the government of the day and carry out its policies diligently and professionally, the civil servants are allowed to have their own political ideals and preferences,” he said.
