Selangor BN submits memorandum to state palace
SHAH ALAM: Selangor Barisan Nasional has submitted a memorandum to the state palace, expressing unhappiness over the state assembly’s refusal to discuss Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s statement on the Bugis ethnic group.
Selangor BN deputy chief Datuk Mat Nadzari Ahmad Dahlan said the emergency motion submitted should have been discussed, as it was a matter of importance since the former premier’s remarks had raised the ire of the Sultan of Selangor.
Instead, he said, State Assembly Speaker Hannah Yeoh had rejected the motion submitted by Kuang assemblyman Datuk Abdul Shukor Idrus, citing it as “a trivial and unreasonable issue”.
“How can this be trivial, especially when it had gained the sultan’s attention and the palace had also made a statement on it?
“Hence, we (Selangor BN assemblymen) came to hand over a memorandum to the sultan to show our support (over the statement made) and to express our regret on the state assembly’s move to reject our motion.
“The assembly is the best place to deliberate and seek a solution to this issue,” he said after handing over the memorandum to the sultan’s private secretary, Datuk Mohamad Munir Bani, at Istana Bukit Kayangan here yesterday.
Shukor, when submitting the motion, had called on the state government to bar Dr Mahathir from attending any events in the state, and disallow him from using any state government-owned premises.
Yeoh, however, rejected the motion on three grounds — since police investigation was ongoing; state government-owned properties were for public use (subject to terms and condition); and the motion would delay discussions on the 2018 Budget and Supply Bill, which were of urgency.
“Emergency motion is about urgency. I have allowed it before in the first sitting of 2014 filed by the opposition leader then on water rationing. It was a matter of life and death that warrants an emergency motion.”
Meanwhile, in Jakarta, Antara news agency reported that Bugis leader and former Indonesian Law and Human Rights minister Hamid Awaludin had likened Dr Mahathir to a racist on a par with Adolf Hitler.
He described the 92-year-old as suffering from “post-power syndrome”. He said it was clear when the former prime minister uttered those words in his tirade against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak that “racism was deeply instilled in Dr Mahathir’s character”.
“As politicians, we are supposed to eradicate racism. But Dr Mahathir is clearly still a racist. He declares himself a statesman, but more or less he is no different from Hitler — a racist.”
He said Dr Mahathir could no longer separate himself from being labelled as suffering from “post-power syndrome”.
He claimed that Dr Mahathir did not realise that the Malaysian economy had been driven by the Bugis.
“If there were no Bugis people there from the 1960s, there would be no oil palm plantations in Malaysia. It was Bugis manpower that initiated that aspect of Malaysia’s economy.”