Praise for Dr M’s new-found belief in free speech
Ex-law minister Nazri willing to teach Mahathir ‘the finer points’ of democracy and royalty’s role
(Free Malaysia Today) – Former law minister Nazri Aziz, in a sarcastic response to Mahathir Mohamad, has praised the former prime minister for his new found belief in freedom of speech for all Malaysians.
“I am happy because as of late, he (Mahathir) can talk about freedom of speech. When he was prime minister, he did not care at all about freedom of speech,” Nazri told Malaysiakini
Mahathir’s government shut down four newspapers in Operation Lallang for six months in 1987-88. His government also put pressure on the media to black out his two predecessors in office, Tunku Abdul Rahman and Hussein Onn.
Yesterday the former prime minister, who is campaigning to force Najib Razak out of office, showed support for Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim of Johor, whom Nazri had criticised for interfering in political matters by discussing Najib’s failure to attend the Nothing2Hide meeting last week.
Mahathir said Tunku Ismail had the same right to free speech as everyone else. Nazri pointed out that the convention in parliamentary democracy was that royalty should not interfere with politics. “I did not say that Tunku Ismail should not speak but in our system, the royalty is above politics,” he said, adding that he would like to enlighten Mahathir of the finer points of law in a parliamentary democracy.
In another sarcastic swipe at the former premier, Nazri said that perhaps Mahathir had voiced support for Tunku Ismail to divert attention from his claim about Tunku Ismail’s grandfather, the late Sultan Iskandar Ismail.
Speaking at the trendy Cooler Lumpur arts festival, Mahathir had claimed that it was Tuanku Iskandar, while Yang di Pertuan Agong, who had been behind the sacking of the Lord President of the Supreme Court, Tun Salleh Abas, in 1988.
“Maybe Mahathir wanted to ‘cover’ up saying the grandfather did this. How can he be backing Tunku Ismail but at the same time, complain about the grandfather?” he was quoted by Malaysiakini as saying.
