FEB 11 — Ousted Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin today sat down for an exclusive interview with The Malaysian Insider after more than 10 days of fast-moving events that brought about a constitutional crisis and political impasse in the silver state.
Part I: Menteri Besar for all
TMI: Has the people’s response to you given you the impetus and drive to continue your fight?
Nizar: The impetus to work strongly and with full vigour started from day one when I was sworn in along with my colleagues in the exco.
I personally believe it was a mandate given by the people of Perak. It is the highest responsibility for me and I will be accountable for that. It developed for the last 10 months until it climaxed in this coup d’etat. But that has reaffirmed and strengthened my resolve from the last 10 months.
That is why the endeavour has been stronger, even though there are rumours that the state secretariat has been crowded with enforcement officers but we still went there. Why did I go there? Because of the internal drive to hunt for the truth.
When I went to some areas, such as the new village in Tronoh or the mosque for Friday prayers, after finishing, I could hardly walk to get my shoes because they were all queuing in front of me.
I do not enjoy this, even before the coup. But why did this happen? People are seeking for the truth. In their heart, they are craving for justice like any normal human being.
Now justice has been ripped off in Malaysia but it is beginning to come back bit by bit. That is something that is inside everyone. It does not matter if you are Malay, Chinese, Indian, Muslim, Hindu or whatever.
Now this is the premise that we work upon that has lasted 10 months and if it not because of justice, we will not have come together.
We come from different backgrounds, cultures and race. But that 10 months, justice and other universal values have brought us together.
If I am looking for just Malay nationalism or Islamic terrorism, if you want to call it, how on earth would we have lasted 10 months?
Ironically in the Kuala Terengganu by-elections, a group called Umno comprised of one race and one religion had a lot of infighting. People can compare. In Perak we had 31 assemblymen from three different parties and different cultures working together whereas Umno has one kind of people, one race, one religion but they still couldn’t unify.
So this is why in the last 10 months, no one can detect any malpractices, any wrongdoing, any usurping of power and let's not even talk about corruption.
With the coup d’etat, the people saw it as an attempt to remove justice and truth to the extent that they are willing to forego the past 25 years because they felt let down.
If you go to some blogsites, words which never came across the mind of Perakians, irrespective of race, despite the highest due respect given to Tuanku in the past 25 years, all went down the drain.
When I saw these manifestations, it gave my friends and I the internal drive that we are pursuing the truth and rule of law. Nobody is beyond this. We may not be the full truth but we are heading for that.
Continue reading
Part I: Menteri Besar for all
TMI: Has the people’s response to you given you the impetus and drive to continue your fight?
Nizar: The impetus to work strongly and with full vigour started from day one when I was sworn in along with my colleagues in the exco.
I personally believe it was a mandate given by the people of Perak. It is the highest responsibility for me and I will be accountable for that. It developed for the last 10 months until it climaxed in this coup d’etat. But that has reaffirmed and strengthened my resolve from the last 10 months.
That is why the endeavour has been stronger, even though there are rumours that the state secretariat has been crowded with enforcement officers but we still went there. Why did I go there? Because of the internal drive to hunt for the truth.
When I went to some areas, such as the new village in Tronoh or the mosque for Friday prayers, after finishing, I could hardly walk to get my shoes because they were all queuing in front of me.
I do not enjoy this, even before the coup. But why did this happen? People are seeking for the truth. In their heart, they are craving for justice like any normal human being.
Now justice has been ripped off in Malaysia but it is beginning to come back bit by bit. That is something that is inside everyone. It does not matter if you are Malay, Chinese, Indian, Muslim, Hindu or whatever.
Now this is the premise that we work upon that has lasted 10 months and if it not because of justice, we will not have come together.
We come from different backgrounds, cultures and race. But that 10 months, justice and other universal values have brought us together.
If I am looking for just Malay nationalism or Islamic terrorism, if you want to call it, how on earth would we have lasted 10 months?
Ironically in the Kuala Terengganu by-elections, a group called Umno comprised of one race and one religion had a lot of infighting. People can compare. In Perak we had 31 assemblymen from three different parties and different cultures working together whereas Umno has one kind of people, one race, one religion but they still couldn’t unify.
So this is why in the last 10 months, no one can detect any malpractices, any wrongdoing, any usurping of power and let's not even talk about corruption.
With the coup d’etat, the people saw it as an attempt to remove justice and truth to the extent that they are willing to forego the past 25 years because they felt let down.
If you go to some blogsites, words which never came across the mind of Perakians, irrespective of race, despite the highest due respect given to Tuanku in the past 25 years, all went down the drain.
When I saw these manifestations, it gave my friends and I the internal drive that we are pursuing the truth and rule of law. Nobody is beyond this. We may not be the full truth but we are heading for that.
Continue reading
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