When Mahathir has no respect for culture and tradition
Dr Mahathir’s criticism of this wedding was done in bad taste and demonstrates his desperation if he can stoop so low as to not respect Kazakh and Malay culture and tradition. Any Malay can tell you that you just do not criticise Malay culture and tradition, and someone’s daughter’s wedding is one such culture and tradition you do not touch unless you want to be regarded as biadap or uncouth.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
I lived in Terengganu for 20 years from 1974 to 1994 and my neighbours were fishermen, farmers, school teachers, religious teachers and so on. In fact, one of our neighbours was the then Mufti of Terengganu. The bilal of our surau was a fisherman while the imam of our mosque was a padi farmer (still is).
So, if anyone dares challenge me and says I know nothing about Malay culture and traditions, or about how to be a ‘proper Malay’, I would ask them how many decades they, too, lived in a kampung with ‘common’ people as neighbours like how I have done.
And one thing that I do know is that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad crossed the line two days ago in his Blog posting titled Corruption in Malaysia when he touched on the matter of weddings — which clearly he meant last year’s wedding of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s daughter, Nooryana Najwa, to Daniyar Kessibayev from Kazakhstan.
For the Kazakhs, as for the Malays as well, weddings are considered the most important event in your life. Weddings in Kazakhstan are celebrated on a grand scale, more often than not turning into a festival lasting days or even weeks. Wedding ceremonies and the rituals associated with them have always held a special place in the life of the Kazakh people and are considered a big deal in Kazakh culture and tradition.
Hence there is no question of not having a grand wedding for the daughter of a Prime Minister who is about to get hitched to a relative of the President of Kazakhstan. Not doing so would not only be a slight to the Kazakh in-laws but would also not be in keeping with Malay culture and tradition.
Dr Mahathir’s criticism of this wedding was done in bad taste and demonstrates his desperation if he can stoop so low as to not respect Kazakh and Malay culture and tradition. Any Malay can tell you that you just do not criticise Malay culture and tradition, and someone’s daughter’s wedding is one such culture and tradition you do not touch unless you want to be regarded as biadap or uncouth.
By the way, Najib’s grandfather was the founder and co-owner of a 50-year old company that has a market capitalisation of RM40 billion and revenue of about RM20 billion a year. Surely someone from that family background can afford a decent wedding for his children.
We do not even know who Dr Mahathir’s father back in India was and yet his children are all multimillionaires and billionaires. Maybe we should focus on that issue rather than discuss the wedding of someone else’s children.
Anyway, the groom’s family paid for that wedding so what’s the big deal? Do you still feel the MACC should investigate this? Then what about investigating where Dr Mahathir’s children got their billions from? From their grandfather in India as well?
