“A DROWNING MAN WILL HOLD ON TO A STRAW,” - NAZRI

Nazri blames BN’s chauvinism for low support

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 – Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz blamed his Barisan Nasional comrades today for driving away support with their chauvinistic ways, warning them that they could not ride on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s popularity to win the general election.

The vocal Umno supreme council member told The Malaysian Insider this afternoon that he blamed the “communal leadership” of certain BN politicians for the public’s declining confidence in the ruling coalition.

“I blame the leaders. Some have become ministers but still look at themselves as communal leaders instead of national leaders.

“But this makes little sense for once you are a minister, you represent all... not just your party or your race,” he said.

Nazri (picture) was responding to the results of a Merdeka Center survey that showed 45 per cent of Malays were dissatisfied with Umno while only 44 per cent were satisfied.

Umno performed even worse with the Chinese community, with only 12 per cent saying they were satisfied while 55 per cent were dissatisfied. A total of 34 per cent had evaded response, suggesting the possibility that a larger number than the 55 per cent could be dissatisfied with Umno.

The poll results, which involved a sample size of more than 1,000 registered voters in the peninsula, contrasted significantly with Najib’s approval rating of 72 per cent in a separate poll conducted in May.

Nazri however, claimed that Najib’s popularity alone would not be enough to help the BN win the next general election.

“The prime minister being popular on his own is not enough. The BN should be popular. A popular PM cannot carry the BN through to a victory and this was proven in the Sibu by-election.

“If this 72 per cent indeed says something, then we should have won in Sibu but we lost, so what good is a popular prime minister if he cannot carry the BN?” he said.

Nazri bleakly pointed out that if the BN leadership failed to buck up, the coalition would only go further downhill and eventually lose in the coming general election.

“BN really has to do a lot of image building... otherwise, we will face trouble in the 13th general election. I can see that Umno members, MCA members.... none have learnt their lessons,” he said.

Nazri claimed that BN leaders, in their attempt to regain lost support from the people, had resorted to making harsh statements.

“They make harsh statements to win support from their own communities. Meaning, they would rather win in the newspapers than in the hearts of the people.

“The MCA, by showing they are chauvinistic Chinese, think they can get the support of the Chinese community. But then, the Chinese already have the DAP, so what is MCA trying to do?” he said.

He noted that by practicing chauvinism and extremism, the MCA had only caused itself to lose the support of the moderate Chinese community and that of the Malay community.

“The MCA has their own niche in the BN structure.. they consist of the moderate Chinese-thinking people so when they put forward extremist views, they lose support from the Chinese and the Malays,” he said.

Nazri claimed that similarly, Umno politicians were attempting to match up to their foes in Islamist party PAS.

“Umno leaders are trying to show they are more Islamic than PAS. However, PAS supporters are PAS supporters and they will support PAS whatever comes their way.

“So, in doing that, Umno will not get all the support of the Malays... they will lose support and at the same time, they will lose the support of the non-Malays, because of their extremist stand,” he said.

Nazri noted that the same notion could be applied to the Indian community and the MIC.

“This is the scenario and it shows that we have never learned our lessons. How is it that Umno only speaks for the Malays and the MCA for the Chinese and yet we want to sell ourselves to the people by saying we are multiracial?

“This is not the rakyat of the 1960s or the 1970s,” he said.

Nazri said that the people “see a glimmer of hope in the PR because they have tried the BN for so many years. So, even though PR parties do not share similar ideologies... they have the support.

“A drowning man will hold on to a straw,” he said.

Nazri however reminded the public that the PR structure was no better than the BN’s, claiming that it was “racial consideration” that had caused the parties to choose Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as their de facto leader.

“They chose him because he is a Malay. They would have truly achieved their multiracialism if they had chosen someone else to be leader... like Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng or Karpal Singh,” he said.

Nazri also said that the best medicine for the BN at this point was to allow direct membership.

“We will be discussing this during our BN convention at year end. I am in full support of this because sometimes, a person may be supportive of the BN but not of the Umno, MCA, MIC or the other parties,” he said.

He claimed that this would promote true multiracialism in the BN and was a step forward towards creating a true Malaysian party.

“Eventually, we can move towards abolishing this racial party system. It is never easy but at least a process must be in place,” he said.