In view of the coming general election, if the government has to use psychology in getting Malaysians abroad to return, it will.
If there is a minister who has “earned” his way to the goal, it is Nazri Aziz, the foul-mouthed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department. He has hinted that Malaysians living abroad and who do not come back after six years are traitors.
The public can bear testimony to the number of times he has ridiculed and castigated the people, all under the guise of caring for the country. Can Nazri then be charged under the Internal Security Act (ISA) with disrupting harmony and peace in the country?
More recently, Nazri once again opened his big mouth and made the most ridiculous of remarks. He said Malaysians who have settled down abroad should return to Malaysia if they want to cast their votes.
“If I am a Malaysian, I’ll come back and vote,” he told Parliament recently.
This “I-know-best” minister made a fool of himself when he concluded that many Malaysians preferred to stay abroad out of their own will and not under coercion.
“Those who have been there for five or six years and don’t come back, they don’t love Malaysia,” Nazri added.
Nazri was responding to DAP-Batu Gajah MP Fong Po Kuan, who asked on the possibility of giving overseas Malaysians the right to vote.
The minister said that the government could only give voting exceptions to government servants and full-time students overseas, as well as their accompanying spouses.
Cut-off period
In cahoots with Nazri is Umno’s Kalabakan MP Abdul Ghapur Salleh who said overseas Malaysians had lost their faith in the country.
While Abdul Ghapur got it right that Malaysians living abroad have lost their faith in Malaysia, he stopped short of addressing why their faith had eroded. Trying to sweep the truth under the carpet as Abdul Ghapur is doing is not helping anymore. The truth is out there and the people know it.
But still, Abdul Ghapur’s insecurity and stupidity knew no bounds when he said: “Why should we give them the right to vote in the country?” “Perhaps our countrymen who have gone overseas want to bring down our country’s name if we give them this right.”
DAP-Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran said that the Federal Constitution did not mention a cut-off period for overseas Malaysians.
He said that Malaysians had the right to vote as long as they were “federal citizens”.
What makes Malaysia so special that its citizens living overseas have to fork out airfare money just to come back and cast their votes? Why are her people not allowed to cast their votes at the Malaysian embassies and high commissions set up abroad, like what is done by the people of other countries working elsewhere?
Nazri should stop calumniating that Malaysians who live abroad do not love their motherland. Such accusation is no less slanderous and politicians like Nazri and Abdul Ghapur who are bellicose are responsible for the migration of many Malaysians.
No leaders, only politicians
If the Barisan Nasional (BN) government is desperate for the votes of Malaysians staying abroad, it should allocate money to bring these voters back to cast their votes and that would show that the BN government does not trust its embassies and high commissions located abroad.
Nazri and Abdul Ghapur are no leaders, only politicans out to create trouble in one way or another. Nazri is notorious for his pugnacious statements, most of which makes no sense. Regrettably, Nazri gets away scot-free each time he accosts the people, insulting their intelligence and making accusations which will jeopardise unity in this country.
It is no surprise that the Malaysian Cabinet comprises characters who can only say “yes boss” and nothing else. Maybe all the politicking has caused Nazri’s thinking capabilities to rust since he cannot apply logic that people who go abroad do so for a reason. If they do not return in four or seven years, that does not make them traitors, as Nazri is trying to hint.
When Abdul Ghapur said Malaysians living abroad have lost their faith in this country, he knows only too well why that had happened. It is not only them but even Malaysians back home have lost confidence in the country’s leadership. It is typical of politicians like Nazri and Abdul Ghapur to play the blame game, assigning all blame to the people instead of admitting the real reason that forced the people to walk away from their motherland.
How does Nazri expect Malaysians to feel happy at home when all the government does is oppress them, in way or another? The non-Malays especially have long been feeling down-trodden, no thanks to the deliberate lack of understanding displayed by the government.
The recent issue concerning the confiscation of the Christian holy scripture, the bible, is one example. Why penalise this community from reading the Malay version of the bible? The federal government’s audacity in seizing copies of this holy book is proof that it will never learn from its lessons in ensuring that unity and harmony in this country remains intact.
Would the federal government do the same if it involved the Quran? How dare the government show disrespect for the Christian community by holding back copies of the bible, citing ridiculous reasons to justify its action?
How should Malaysians feel at home when former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad trespassed all sensitivities and cautioned the non-Malays to behave as this country belongs to the Malays?
BN’s hypocrisy
The saying “home is where the heart is” speaks volumes of Malaysians who, with a heavy heart, decide to start life afresh abroad, tired of the discrimination and persecution faced in their own homeland.
It is said that desperate times call for desperate measures and Nazri’s remarks smack of the BN government’s desperation in wanting to ensure BN’s victory in the coming general election. There is no other reason why Nazri will welcome Malaysians who have set up homes abroad back home. The BN’s government’s hidden agenda here is “glittering”, so the less Nazri speaks here the better.
By the way, what does Nazri have to say about ministers who run off to London for a break, instead of supporting domestic tourism and spending time at the various renowned islands in Malaysia? Do they love Malaysia enough?
What is Nazri’s take on Malaysian politicians who once held dual citizenships, like in the case of Tourism Minister Dr Ng Yen Yen? It is said she gave up her Australian permanent resident (PR) status as that was the condition set when the then MCA deputy chief Lim Ah Lek proposed her name for a senatorship back in 1993. The controversy surrounding MCA leaders holding PR status of another country is not new.
In 1987, former vice-president Kok Wee Kiat was exposed as holding a Canadian PR status before he gave it up and entered politics. He later became the international trade and industry deputy minister and played a big role in bringing the Dutch-originating Makro hypermarket chain into Malaysia.
How does Nazri justify the fact that politicians prefer to send their children abroad to study and even settle down? Why have their faith in Malaysia’s capabilities gone kaput?
Nazri knows very well the story behind the bigger picture, so he should stop picking on the regular Malaysian who, frustrated with the prejudice practised by this country’s administration, has left in search of home elsewhere.
The BN government does no care two hoots when an award-winning writer denotes the non-Malays as less civilised compared with their fellow Malays, as has happened through the works of Abdullah Hussain in “Interlok”. Why is the government so reluctant to make the necessary amendments knowing fully well the novel hurts the sentiments of the non-Malays? And why is Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin interferring with the independent panel’s duty by asking them to cut back on the amendments?
With all these and more going on, is there any other reason Nazri can cite that will make Malaysians of all races feel at home in this country?
The truth is the BN government wants to spare no efforts in making sure it wins big in the coming 13th general election. And if it has to use psychology in getting Malaysians abroad to return, it will.
The BN government is far from sincere in pleading with Malaysians to vote for it. The BN machinery is desperate, very desperate and that is the truth
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