Nazri’s open letter to Awang Selamat

Nazri’s open letter to Awang Selamat
By Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz
September 20, 2010

SOURCE: The Malaysian Insider


BUCHAREST, Sept 20 — I have read the comments by Awang Selamat on me in his column. I want to make some clarifications lest readers be misled into thinking what he wrote is correct.

Firstly, I am never afraid to be criticised by the opposition. I would like Awang to come to Parliament and see and hear for himself the vitriol and attacks I received whilst defending the Government on issues related to the Prime Minister’s Office.

In my 33 years in politics, I was never spared by anybody who makes criticisms against me — including the recent comments by Awang. I don’t know about Awang himself, because I don’t even know who he is. I hope he can be a man like me and prove that he is not scared of criticism by coming out in the open and not hiding behind the pseudonym that he uses.

I am also not anti-Dr Mahathir (Mohamad). To me, so far he is the best prime minister I have served. However, as an ex-premier, there is so much left to be desired.

Awang should get out of his time warp and face the fact that I am now in the government as a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and not vice versa. So it is Tun Mahathir who is criticising the Government and not the other way round.

Of course anybody, regardless of who criticises the government, will receive relentless attack in defence of the Government by me just as I had done in the past when Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah (Ahmad Badawi) were the prime ministers.

Having said that, I want Awang to know that I am always sure who my boss is. It’s not (Lim) Kit Siang nor (Datuk Seri) Anwar (Ibrahim) because they are not prime minister of Malaysia, the chairman of BN or president of Umno.

I am not too sure Awang knows who his boss is because he undermines the 1 Malaysia policy of the prime minister and promotes the narrow racism of (Datuk) Ibrahim Ali who is not even an Umno member. Awang should be asking himself the question he posed to me.

Being civil to the opposition is the right thing to do in a democracy, because just like me, they are also elected by the people. Of course, Awang is caught in the time warp of those days where government MPs do not only not engage them but hate and dislike them in all circumstances.

Awang will never understand this because he is not an elected MP, put in the House by the voice of the people. Anyway did Awang ever think of how five PKR MPs could cross and be independents, if not for the civility shown by me to them as parliamentary affairs minister?

The number of crossovers to the independent caucus has exceeded the single MP from Pasir Mas, this so-called Malay Hero worshipped by Awang.

Incidentally, Umno has never asked or needed for Ibrahim to help us but the association with him will only cause us to lose votes.

Tun Mahathir himself told us about his loss in Kota Setar Selatan seat — a 90 per cent Malay majority parliamentary constituency — in 1969 to Yusof Rawa, where it was reported that Tun said he didn’t need Chinese votes. There is a lesson to be learned from this.

Of course, Awang will never understand because not only has he never offered himself as a candidate for the General Elections but readers don’t even know who he is.

Politicians like me who has stood for four general elections and won clearly have to be very careful in what we say and not be reckless like Awang. We need to muster all the votes regardless of race and we do not stay in the comfort zone as Awang does.

He can write and say anything irresponsibly and recklessly, knowing that he will never be punished by the voters.

That is why, Awang, if you asked what my agenda is, I think even school children will know that it’s to win the next general election and that Datuk Seri Najib (Razak) remains as prime minister of Malaysia.

I do hope that Awang also has the same agenda, unless of course his boss is somebody else.

Finally I would advise Awang to stick to what he does and knows best and not try to meddle in national politics, of which he has shallow knowledge and zero experience.

He should concentrate in increasing his paper’s dwindling readership. It speaks volumes of their poor standards and performance when Utusan has to refer to the news report of the new electronic alternative media when it should be the reverse.

That will be his KPI and the measurement of his success in the field that he claims he represent well.

Mine is, of course, to win the Padang Rengas seat for Barisan Nasional in the next General Election regardless whether I am a candidate or not. Until then we shall see.

And yes I am a Malaysian first and Malay next. Does any bigot have a problem with that?

___________________________________________________________________________________

* This letter by Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri bin Tan Sri Abdul Aziz is in response to a Mingguan Malaysia editorial “Alahai Nazri ...” by Awang Selamat. The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and MP for Padang Rengas emailed it from Bucharest, Romania, where he is attending the Malaysian-Romanian Inter-parliamentarian Friendship Group” meet from September 19 to 23, 2010.

***

Paradox of Life

It is only when we realize that life is taking us nowhere that it begins to have meaning.

-- P.D. Ouspensky

Bayi Story: Cultural Diversity

An American, a Japanese and a Chinese went for a hike one day.

It was very hot. They were sweating and exhausted. When they came upon a small lake, they took off all their clothes and jumped into the water, since it was fairly secluded. Feeling refreshed, the trio decided to pick a few berries while enjoying their "freedom."

As they were crossing an open area, suddenly a group of ladies from town appeared. Unable to get to their clothes in time, the American and the Japanese quickly used their hands to cover their privates.

But the Chinese covered his face and the trio ran for cover.

After the ladies had left and the men got their clothes back on, the American and the Japanese asked the Chinese why he covered his face rather than his private part.

The Chinese replied, "I don't know about you....... but in my country,it's the face that people recognize."

***

STORY FROM: BayiSingh

***

Hari Raya Message

To all Muslims,

Selamat Hari Raya Idilfitri!

Have a good holiday & celebration.




Today's Contemplation:

Worship the Merciful, feed the hungry, and spread peace. You shall then enter Paradise in peace.

--The Prophet Muhammad, as reported by Abd'Allah bin Al-Hadis, 2:15

SOURCE: inaedad-rieasda.net

***

Daily Contemplation

Once a person asked the prophet, “What is true faith?” The Prophet replied, “When your good endeavors bring you pleasure and your transgression cause you anguish, you know that are a person of faith.”

- Reported by Abu Umamah, Al-Hadis, 1: 115


What I fear most for my people are the hypocrites, who talk wisely, yet act unjustly.

- The Prophet Muhammad, as reported by Umar Bin Al-Khattab, Al-Hadis, 1: 423

***

SOURCE: inaedad-rieasda.net

***

Daily Contemplation

Those who look after widows and the destitute are equal to the ones striving in the way of Allah and, in my eyes, the same as those who worship all night and fast all day.

-- Hadith : The Prophet Muhammad (SAW), as reported by Abu Hurairah

***

(Read more at: inaedad-rieasda.net )

***

EPD: The Case of Citra

Fifteen year old Citra Dorai was born in a prison in Alor Setar and her knowledge about the circumstances surrounding her birth is rather vague.

She has been illiterate all her life as she does not have a birth certificate or an identity card which makes it impossible for her to register for any school.

Her mother died recently and her father has left her and two other siblings in the care of an aunt, and Citra is totally uncertain of her future.

"I want to be like everyone else, to go to school, and to have something to do in the future," she said, teary-eyed.

Citra, is a stateless person.

Citra is also part of the 150,000 Malaysians who were born and bred in the country but who continues to suffer as stateless persons for various reasons ranging from not having parents' with citizenship to refusal to follow suit when a spouse or parent converts to Islam.

SOURCE: Malaysiakini: Stateless in Malaysia

***

EPD: Economic Policy Discard

These four children have never eaten a grain of rice in their life.

Biscuits was their only food to starve off hunger.

Their father was jobless for months. Previously he worked at a workshop which closed down.

He has to borrow money from Ah Long to survive. Now he has to hide from them.

The children's mother ran away.

The children aged 4, 8, 9 and 10 had never been to school. Their father taught them Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin at home.

Our economic policies could not take them into consideration as they are Chinese. The Chinese were classified as rich.

***

Story: Peter & the Magic Thread

Peter was a very lively little boy. Everyone loved him: his family, his teachers and his friends. But he did have one weakness. Peter could never live in the moment. He had not learned to enjoy the process of life.

When he was in school, he dreamed of being outside playing. When he was outside playing he dreamed of his summer vacation.

Peter constantly daydreamed, never taking the time to savor the special moments that filled his days.

One morning, Peter was out walking in a forest near his home. Feeling tired, he decided to rest on a patch of grass and eventually dozed off. After only a few minutes of deep sleep, he heard someone calling his name. 'Peter! Peter!' came the shrill voices from above. As he slowly opened his eyes, he was startled to see a striking woman standing above him. She must have been over a hundred years old and her snow-white hair dangled well below her shoulders like a matted blanket of wool. In this woman's wrinkled hand was a magical little ball with a hole in the centre and out of the hole dangled a long, golden thread.

'Peter,' she said, 'this is the thread of your life. If you pull the thread just a bit, an hour will pass in seconds. If you pull a little harder, whole days will pass in minutes. And if you pull with all your might, months - even years - will pass by in days.'

Peter grew very excited at this discovery. 'I'd like to have it if I may?'

The elderly woman reached down and gave the ball with the magic thread to Peter.

The next day, Peter was sitting in the classroom feeling restless and bored. Suddenly, he remembered his new toy. As he pulled a little bit of the golden thread, he quickly found himself at home, playing in his garden. Realizing the power of the magic thread, Peter soon grew tired of being a schoolboy and longed to be a teenager, with all the excitement that phrase of life would bring. So, he pulled out the ball and pulled hard on the golden thread.

Suddenly he was a teenager with a very pretty young girlfriend name Elise. But Peter still wasn't content. He had never learned to enjoy the moment and to explore the simple wonders of every stage of life. Instead, he dreamed of being an adult. So again he pulled on the thread and many years whizzed by in an instant. Now he found that he had been transformed into a middle-aged adult.

Elise was now his wife and Peter was surrounded with a houseful of kids. But Peter also noticed something else. His once jet black hair had started to turn grey. And his once youthful mother whom he loved so dearly had grown old and frail.

Yet Peter still could not live in the moment. He had never learned to "live in the now." So, once again, he pulled on the magic thread and waited for the changes to appear.

Peter now found that he was a seventy-year-old man. His thick dark hair had turned white as snow and his beautiful young wife Elise had also grown old. His wonderful children had grown up and left home to lead lives of their own.

For the first time in his entire life, Peter realized that he had not taken the time to embrace the wonders of living. He had never gone fishing with his kids or taken a moonlight stroll with Elise. He had never planted a garden or read those wonderful books his mother had love to read. Instead he had hurried through life, never resting to see all that was good along the way.

Peter became very sad at this discovery. He decided to go out to the forest to look for the old woman who had given him the ball and the magic thread. But she was nowhere to be found.

"My whole life has passed before my eyes without giving me the chance to enjoy it. Sure, there would have been sad times as well as great times but I haven't had the chance to experience either. I had missed the gift of living."

Peter decides to "live in the now" from now onwards. He will now take whatever time is left tn this world to embrace the wonders of living.

****************************************************
Adapted from:
Robin S. Sharma's The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
HarperCollinsPublishers
1997

*****************************************************

Social Contract: Present Shock

To understand what is happening to us as we move into this age of super-capitalism, we must analyze the processes of acceleration and confront the concept of transience. If acceleration is a new social force, transience is its psychological counterpart, and without an understanding of the role it plays in contemporary human behavior, all our theories of personality, all our psychology, must remain pre-modern. Psychology without the concept of transience cannot take account of precisely those phenomena that are peculiarly contemporary.

For our society have not merely extended the scope and scale of change, we have radically altered the pace. We have released a totally new social force - a stream of change, so accelerated that it influences our sense of time, revolutionizes the tempo of daily life, and affects the very way we feel the world around us. We no longer feel life as our forefathers did in the past. And this is the ultimate difference, the distinction that separates the truly contemporary man from all others. For this acceleration lies behind the impermanence - the transience - that penetrates and tinctures our consciousness, radically affecting the way we relate to other people, to things, to the entire universe of ideas, art and values.

The changing of our relationship to the resources that surround us, the violent expanding of the scope of change, and most crucially, the accelerating pace, we have broken irretrievably with the past. We have cut ourselves off from the old ways of thinking, of feeling, of adapting. We have set the stage for a completely new society and we are now racing toward it. This is the crux of our lifetime.

For the first time, we will have to face the potential explosive future shock! (The FUTURE arrived YESTERDAY, says Michael Malone!)

--- Alvin Toffler; Future Shock.

***

The WHY Paradox

Why do supermarkets make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front?

Why do banks leave vault doors open and then chained the ballpoint pens at the cashiers' counters?

Why is it that doctors call what they do 'practice'?

Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?

Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavoring, and dish washing liquid made with real lemons?

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?

If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

Why do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke?

Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?

Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?

Why are Malaysian citizen of Chinese origin asked to go back home to China when they are born in Malaysia?

Why are Malaysian citizen of Indian origin asked to go back to India when their home is Malaysia?

Why Malaysia is becoming a chaotic nation?

Why, why, tell me WHY!!!


***