No need to get personal on NCC2, Nazir tells critic

(MMO) – Under fire for his call to set up a second National Consultative Council (NCC2), prominent banker Datuk Seri Nazir Razak asked his critic today to focus on the issue instead of getting personal with remarks.

The CIMB Group chairman singled out politician Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim as his main critic, without elaborating on the latter’s comments.

“I don’t know Tunku Abdul Aziz (who commented on TV3 last night) but I respect everyone’s right to an opinion on NCC2. I just wish he wouldn’t get personal with his remarks.

“Let’s stay focused on the idea & whether it is good for Malaysia. Let’s keep the conversation constructive,” the brother to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak wrote in a post on his Instagram account.

On September 29, Nazir was reported by national news agency Bernama as proposing the formation of the second NCC under the auspices of the Council of Rulers as a platform for national reconciliation.

Nazir indicated that there was a need for the updated form of the first council, which his late father and second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein established in 1970 after the bloody racial riots of May 13, 1969.

Nazir said the NCC2 should be set up with the backing of the government, political parties, civil society, academics, religious leaders and businessmen.

He also said there was a need for moderate discussions behind closed doors on various “sensitive issues” such as “the state of our education system, affirmative action, the role of religion in national life, the integrity of the Federation, the issues of corruption and competitive politics, and of course, rebuilding trust in our institutions.”

On October 11, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Joseph Kurup said the federal government is mulling a new law to make the NCC2 permanent.