Pakatan continues to hound Najib over BTN

One or the other. Pakatan will not allow Najib to walk away from the BTN issue. — file pic

By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani - The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders say they want Datuk Seri Najib Razak to set the record straight by stating the government’s stand on the controversial National Civics Bureau (BTN).

Despite confirmation by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, on Monday that the Cabinet had agreed to revamp BTN courses and disclosure that the Chief Secretary had been instructed to oversee BTN’s overhaul, a number of ministers and Umno leaders have continued to defend the programme which has been described as racist by the opposition and some participants.

The prime minister’s silence on the issue has added to the confusion over his administration’s position.

BTN chief Datuk Ahmad Maslan also defended the civics course and insisted that it would be “upgraded” instead of “revamped.”

“The issue here is very clear. It is either Nazri or Ahmad Maslan who is wrong and now Najib is keeping quiet. He can’t keep quiet. As prime minister he must set an example as to whether he is prepared to stand by his 1 Malaysia context and slogan or it is just empty talk.

“His silence on the whole issue speaks very poorly on the seriousness and commitment on the 1 Malaysia concept,” the DAP’s Lim Kit Siang told The Malaysian Insider.

Seri Setia assemblyman, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad from PKR, also questioned the government’s sincerity on BTN and 1 Malaysia.

“Najib has been taking about 1 Malaysia and all this while we can see that its either a good cop or bad cop routine, or he does not know how to control his deputy because he has been saying the right things but his deputy has been talking the Malay line.

PR leaders Lim (left) and Nik Nazmi (centre) want to know Najib’s stand.—file pic

“I think that definitely the credibility of the 1 Malaysia project rests on the courage of the government to face up to the people who are just stuck with the old mentality. At the end of the day, we want acknowledgment of the problem and that this cannot be done.

“We have no issues with programmes that instil loyalty, promote history and the constitution but it must be done in a frank and open manner [while] respecting the different communities in the country,” Nik Nazmi explained.

The programme has come under fire from various groups, with PR leaders branding it a tool to spread racist propaganda.

While the government insists BTN courses are meant to instil patriotism in the participants, testimonials by former attendees indicate otherwise — that they are instead used to maintain Malay support for Umno through cultivating racial hatred and concepts like “Ketuanan Melayu” (Malay supremacy).

These testimonials have been used as fodder by PR leaders to demand BTN’s closure.

The PR-led Selangor government has already imposed a ban on its civil servants and students within its state-run educational institutions from attending BTN courses, while Penang — another PR- governed state — is said to be considering similar action.

But the hawks in Umno, through Malay-based dailies like Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia, have moved to defend BTN and attack its critics as “traitors” who are trying to politicise the issue.

Good cop, bad cop routine? — Picture by Choo Choy May

Utusan today urged the government not to “bow down” to the opposition on BTN and said that Nazri wanted the programme to be revamped even though the move was decided by the Cabinet.

Lim agreed that the government should not “bow down” to the PR but to the truth and national interest.

“The question is not to bow down to the opposition but it whether it is the right and wrong. Whether it is against the 1 Malaysia concept, nation building, national unity or it is in line with 1 Malaysia, it does not promote national hatred and it is offering national unity. It is one or the other,” Lim said.

Nik Nazmi added that Utusan should not divide the community.

“What is needed is honesty and sincerity towards the Malay community, that these lies cannot go on. It does not teach the Malays to face the 21st century and all it does is make you think that you can blame everyone else for your problem,” Nik Nazmi said.