Nazri Aziz said he would shut up this time when Najib Razak was being pressured to resign by Dr Mahathir Mohamad because he was labeled “kurang ajar” (disrespectful) for defending former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi from being ousted by the same man.
“I was vilified and scolded by Umno because they said I was ‘kurang
ajar’, I was disrespectful,” the minister of tourism and culture told
Malaysiakini in an exclusive interview.
“Back then, he (Mahathir) told us all when Tengku Razaleigh (Hamzah)
was attacking him that on a ship, there is only one captain.
“So I was just following his advice. So I defended Pak Lah (Abdullah) as advised by Mahathir. What did I do wrong?”
Nazri said he was now going to remain silent
since all of Umno was already on the defensive against Mahathir's latest attacks, who had not let up in
his efforts to unseat Najib.
“I just watch from the sidelines. Because that is his free speech. I
attacked him once, I was told to stop. When he criticises (now), I keep
quiet because that is his free speech,” he told the news portal.
However, Nazri did admit that Mahathir’s words carried weight
and that people took serious notice of the debt-ridden
1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) after Mahathir starting criticizing
about it extensively.
“Certainly it added pressure because Mahathir was our PM for 22
years, so he has a firm credibility. But we can’t sit down and let him
do this, we need to work harder,” Nazri said, cautioning however that
not all the former leader said was the truth.
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