No need for BN MPs to declare ‘Malaysian first,’ says Nazri

Nazri: We all aware that Barisan has a Malaysian branding.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz claimed today that Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs should be exempt from declaring they were “Malaysians first”, as the federal coalition had always “championed” the rights of all races.

Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers have claimed that many BN MPs did not espouse Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1 Malaysia concept of “Malaysian first”.

In BN’s defence today, Nazri said that PR lawmakers were the ones who needed to make such a declaration, as he claimed that the opposition coalition was made up of “chauvinists” and “extremists.”

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s department said that Malaysians were already “well aware” of BN’s stand on equality, saying that the opposition instead needed to do so as they were still “new.”

“It is only those who are new that must constantly declare their stand as the rakyat may not trust them yet,” he said, adding that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) was only formed in 2008.

“DAP is a Chinese chauvinist party, PAS is an Islamic extremist party while PKR offers somewhat of a balance. But we all aware that Barisan has a Malaysian branding,” Nazri said in reply to a supplementary question by Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng.

Lim had asked whether other BN MPs were willing to emulate Nazri’s recent actions in declaring himself as “Malaysian first.”

The Minister had, in an open letter to Utusan columnist Awang Selamat, declared himself as “Malaysian first, and Malay second.”

“I am Malaysian first and Malay next, does any bigot have a problem with that?” said Nazri in the open letter published in The Malaysian Insider.

Later on at a press conference, Lim said that Nazri’s reply had failed to state whether other BN MPs were willing to declare whether they were Malaysian first or otherwise.

“Is Nazri alone in this? I don’t see any Umno or BN MPs sharing this view, even the Deputy Prime Minister does not share the same view,” said Lim.