KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 ― Umno supreme council member Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz denied today that he is friends with political foe DAP as alleged by MCA.
Nazri’s cordial ties with the DAP-led Penang government in the past had come under close scrutiny from the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition’s Chinese component in recent days.
“I am no friend of DAP politically,” he told news portal Malaysiakini.
The tourism and culture minister was reported to have said last week that the MCA is also not his friend, despite being coalition allies.
Instead, Nazri told the news portal that he views the DAP as a “Chinese party” with an “anti-Islam” slant.
He said his conclusion was based on the demographic profile and actions of the federal Opposition’s party members who have maintained ethnic Chinese leaders in its top echelon in past internal elections despite their “Malaysian Malaysia” mantra.
“Whatever I think of DAP must be based on facts. First of all, you look at the make-up of the party. It claims to be a Malaysian party but when it comes to the time to elect their office-bearers, you will notice the odds are stacked in favour of the Chinese members.
“So for us looking from the outside, we can only look at the intention of how they are going ahead through the voting (patterns) of their members. As an outsider, I will come to the conclusion that DAP is a Chinese party,” he was quoted saying.
The Padang Rengas MP was also quoted by the portal as claiming that remarks made by some DAP heads in the past had suggested their disfavour towards the position of Islam in the constitution.
“Some of them were not happy with the current situation where Islam is given a place in the constitution.
“And in their efforts to preach the so-called Malaysian Malaysia concept, you can sense there are elements of being 'anti-Islam' even though these were never directly mentioned as such,” Nazri was quoted adding.
He claimed “many Muslims” feel the DAP is “anti-Islam”, adding “there must be an element of truth” to this perception.
