Asri tells Anwar and other ‘veterans’ to call it a day
(Harakahdaily) – Former Perak Mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, has expressed his wish to see Pakatan Rakyat emerge as a viable opposition in terms of quality of debates.
“I feel that our politics need a fresh breath of air… I and most people only desire to see a peaceful country with a responsible government and quality opposition.
“A lot have been said about the government today. But we should not forget that the opposition too needs to be evaluated on their role in parliament,” he said, adding that the health of a nation also depended on a good opposition.
Asri offered his solution to achieve this: by calling “veteran actors” to withdraw from the political scene, and named parliamentary Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim among them.
“Many veteran actors are no longer suitable to be heroes in the political stage today. Let them remain in our political history together with the acknowledgement of their contribution,” he said.
In a carefully worded blog posting today, Asri claimed that many of the actions by Anwar seemed to have “lost the balance”, though he did not elaborate.
Saying the younger generation would not want to see the “same story design” in the country’s politics, Asri called on Anwar “to be given the chance to withdraw peacefully”.
“Every man has his day. Let he who comes be welcomed and he who departs be sent away respectfully and with gratitude, not thrown out forcefully,” he wrote.
Asri was also quick to add that he had no political agenda in giving his latest opinion, saying he was aware that some opposition politicians were quick to condemn him whenever he criticised them, but had always praised his condemnations of the BN government.
Asri is no stranger to the political scene although he has not officially joined any political party since resigning as Perlis’s state mufti in November 2008.
In April this year, Asri denied that he was planning to form a new BN-friendly political party, saying his presence at the official launching of right-wing UMNO offshoot Perkasa was only to hear former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Asri, who is said to be close to Mahathir, was also in the news last June when he was rumoured to be among several “Muslim scholars” to join UMNO. Asri had then denied the speculation.
