Nazri Slams Mahathir and Utusan Malaysia For Racist

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz lashed out at former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today for the latter's apparent inconsistencies over patriotism amidst continued public debate over the controversial Biro Tata Negara (BTN) courses.

Speaking to reporters in Parliament, Nazri said he agreed with the former prime minister's opinions on patriotism but stressed that "patriotism is not only for the Malays".

According to Nazri, Mahathir would speak of patriotism and of being united as Malaysians while he was still prime minister but had changed his tone after resigning from office.

"Now that he’s not prime minister, you read his blog. It’s bloody racist. I don’t like that. You must be a Malaysian whether you’re a minister or not. You must walk your talk," Nazri said.

Nazri was responding to Mahathir's comments on Sunday, Dec 6, where the latter said that a revamp of the BTN was unnecessary because the curriculum had helped promote unity and patriotic spirit among all Malaysians.

Mahathir's opinion is at odds with Nazri's earlier announcement that the government would revamp the national civics course.

Nazri denied that the proposed revamp stemmed from the Selangor goverment's move to ban its civil servants, employees in state subsidiaries and students in state-owned educational institutions from participating.

The minister reiterated that the Cabinet had made the decision shortly after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak took over the reigns of the country to bring the BTN syallabus in line with Najib's 1Malaysia slogan.

The Padang Rengas member of parliament added that it was important for the BTN, which was funded by public money, to "not only concentrate on one community".

"Malaysia is for all races so I disagree with any syllabus that only concentrates on patriotism for just on one community.

"If they have a problem with that, I want to know what their problem is. Do they want to say that Malaysia belongs only to the Malays and the government is only a Malay government?" Nazri asked.

Nazri also urged Utusan Malaysia not to go into "denial syndrome" over the issue because BTN's syllabus was known to all, including members of the opposition who were previously involved in the BTN course.

According to Nazri, these included Selangor state executive council Datuk Dr Hasan Mohamed Ali who was formerly deputy director of BTN, PKR's Sungai Petani member of parliament Datuk Johari Abdul who was a BTN director and PKR election director Saifuddin Nasution who was a course facilitator.

"They [the opposition] all know what the syllabus is all about so who are we to say that it did not happen? You want to lie? You make people laugh. There are people who attended the courses who came out very angry," Nazri said.

Pressed if he admitted that BTN was "used for racism", Nazri said, "How can I deny [it]?"

Mupok Aku

"Agi Idup Agi Ngelaban"

What Is Taught By BTN

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27, 2009
By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani

I— am one of the privileged few to have attended a local public university and learned the meaning of hate, thanks to the ever popular Biro Tata Negara.
All undergraduates were forced to attend this programme or else they would not be eligible for graduation.
The BTN under the Prime Minister’s Department brought in “intellectual” speakers who were supposed to enlighten the students about the meaning of being a Malaysian but instead it felt more like a communist propaganda camp brainwashing those attending about the importance of “Ketuanan Melayu”.
The camp would usually take place during the weekends. Students would have to register early in the morning and the programme would last the whole day.
The organisers were always on their guard, asking participants to show their student identification cards each time they entered the hall, fearing the presence of outsiders.
In the hall, students were asked to turn off their mobile phones.
During the lectures, questions were planted among the audience and the students were advised not to ask any other questions.
One speaker began with the history of Malaysia and how much the country had gone through, always emphasising the May 13 riots.
He stressed the point of how much the Malays had sacrificed and how the community should be united especially from outside threat — the Chinese community.
He said that the Chinese community were “the Jews of Asia” and were just itching to take over when Malays were disunited and broken.
The speaker also revealed a greater Chinese conspiracy where the Chinese Malaysians were working together with Singapore to topple the Malay government.
“Do you want to become like the Malays in Singapore?” he asked.
He also went so far as to criticise Malay girls for dating boys from other races.
He added that they should not be cheap and embarrass their families.
Once, a student told the speaker that as Muslims, we should also respect other races who are also Muslims.
“All Muslims are Malays so it does not matter if they are Chinese or Indians. If they are Muslims then they are Malays,” the speaker replied.
This is why I was relieved when I learned that the Selangor government had moved to ban its civil servants, employees of state subsidiaries and students at state-owned education institutions from attending any BTN courses with immediate effect.
However I believe racism in varsities does not end at BTN because classrooms have also become victims of ignorant scholars.
My friend was verbally abused during his sociology class when he did not agree with the points made by his lecturer.
“You must be DKK,” the lecturer told him.
“What is DKK?” he asked.
“You must be darah keturunan keling (descendents of Indians),” the lecturer said, pointing to his dark skin.
My Saudi friend was also shocked by the comments made by his lecturer in his Islamic civilisation class.
“We should save our Orang Asli from the Chinese people. They are like the Palestinians and the Chinese are Israel. We must fight the Jews,” the lecturer told his students.
The lecturer even failed one of his students in his oral exam when he quoted a Western scholar in his presentation.
“You should be ashamed of yourselves. You are a Muslim and should only use Islamic scholars,” he scolded the student.
I was personally saddened when my Islamic law lecturer compared Christianity to Head & Shoulder’s 3 in 1 shampoo in referring to the religion’s Holy Trinity.
I feel that racism has been institutionalised in our country and that BTN is only the tip of the iceberg.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin defended BTN yesterday and claimed that it was not racist but is line with the 1 Malaysia concept.
I have to humbly disagree and would like to suggest maybe the ministers should bring their overseas children home and let them have a taste of what BTN is.