Nizar throws down the gauntlet to Najib
Humayun KabirPublished: Oct 19, 2009 9:18 AM | Updated: Oct 19, 2009 9:41 AM
Ousted Pakatan Menteri Besar and Bukit Gantang MP Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin dared Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to release federal development funds to Pakatan held constituencies to prove 1Malaysia sincerity.
Ousted Pakatan Menteri Besar and Bukit Gantang MP Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin challenged Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to release federal development funds to Pakatan held constituencies if he is sincere about his 1Malaysia slogan.
Najib must prove that his 1Malaysia slogan of "People First, Performance Now " was not an Umno political propaganda tool to fool the people', he added.
He charged Umno with punishing those who had voted in favour of the opposition in the past 52 years, denying them federal development allocations which should rightly be for all Malaysians.
"In doing so, Umno also punished and marginalised the Malays, especially in the rural areas by not allocating federal development funds during their 52 years of reign," he said.
Nizar (right) was speaking to Malaysiakini via mobile telephone en route to Parliament which resumed sitting this morning.
He said he was speaking not only for Pakatan constituencies, but also on behalf of BN ruled areas which had been under their control for decades.
"It is pathetic to see when one visits such rural areas and find Malaysians living with no basic amenities like a proper roof over their heads, no electricity supply and no water supply," said Nizar.
Development frozen in time
Talking about his Bukit Gantang constituency which consists of the three state seats of Changat Jering (independent), Trong (Umno) and Kuala Sepetang (PKR), he said that 60 percent of the voters are Malays with 50 percent of them living in abject poverty.
The Chinese in Kuala Septang, the Indians in Trong and Malays in Changat Jering have all been marginalised in his parliamentary constituency by the BN.
Citing an example, residents in Trong have only one traffic light at the town's junction and a trunk road passing through. All other development seemed to have been frozen in time.
"Malays in this area still live in dilapidated huts without basic amenities and the same pathetic living conditions prevail in the other rural areas of Larut, Matang and Selama, Lenggong and Grik," said Nizar.
He called on the federal government to come up with a blueprint to eradicate poverty irrespective of race instead of paying lip-service to uniting all the races under 1Malaysia.
"The gap between rural and urban Malays is widening as Umno is more interested in giving the economic cake to its cronies and throwing the crumbs to the rural population," he said.
Nizar said the 28 Pakatan constituencies in Perak are denied funds because the federal government wants to punish voters for voting in the opposition.
Voters wise to BN tactics
He said Umno's Kuang (Selangor) assemblyperson Shukur Idris' proposal that Umno stop development allocations to all Pakatan constituencies during the party's AGM on Friday was nothing new.
Nizar said: "Umno has been doing this the past 52 years, telling voters that the opposition can never bring development to their constituencies like the BN and the people have been buying this propaganda .
However, March 8 last year showed that the voters had wised up to the gimmicks and antics of BN, he said.
Nizar dismissed Najib's 1Malaysia slogan as just rhetoric and a political gimmick, while his deputy Muhiyiddin Yasin and other Umno leaders are harping on Malay supremacy.
He alleged that Umno's political survival depended on the divide and rule policy and is sceptical that 1Malaysia will ever take root as envisioned by Najib.
Nizar said during Pakatan's 10-month rule of Perak, they did not differentiate constituencies as Pakatan or BN but treated all voters as Perakians and allocated the state funds rightly due to them.
As to Najib's contention that BN took over the state government legally, Nizar stated that a 'back-door entry' was never popular.
An independent survey recently showed 92 percent of Perakians want the state assembly to be dissolved and fresh elections called for.
Najib must prove that his 1Malaysia slogan of "People First, Performance Now " was not an Umno political propaganda tool to fool the people', he added.
He charged Umno with punishing those who had voted in favour of the opposition in the past 52 years, denying them federal development allocations which should rightly be for all Malaysians.
"In doing so, Umno also punished and marginalised the Malays, especially in the rural areas by not allocating federal development funds during their 52 years of reign," he said.
Nizar (right) was speaking to Malaysiakini via mobile telephone en route to Parliament which resumed sitting this morning.He said he was speaking not only for Pakatan constituencies, but also on behalf of BN ruled areas which had been under their control for decades.
"It is pathetic to see when one visits such rural areas and find Malaysians living with no basic amenities like a proper roof over their heads, no electricity supply and no water supply," said Nizar.
Development frozen in time
Talking about his Bukit Gantang constituency which consists of the three state seats of Changat Jering (independent), Trong (Umno) and Kuala Sepetang (PKR), he said that 60 percent of the voters are Malays with 50 percent of them living in abject poverty.
The Chinese in Kuala Septang, the Indians in Trong and Malays in Changat Jering have all been marginalised in his parliamentary constituency by the BN.
Citing an example, residents in Trong have only one traffic light at the town's junction and a trunk road passing through. All other development seemed to have been frozen in time.
"Malays in this area still live in dilapidated huts without basic amenities and the same pathetic living conditions prevail in the other rural areas of Larut, Matang and Selama, Lenggong and Grik," said Nizar.
He called on the federal government to come up with a blueprint to eradicate poverty irrespective of race instead of paying lip-service to uniting all the races under 1Malaysia.
"The gap between rural and urban Malays is widening as Umno is more interested in giving the economic cake to its cronies and throwing the crumbs to the rural population," he said.
Nizar said the 28 Pakatan constituencies in Perak are denied funds because the federal government wants to punish voters for voting in the opposition.
Voters wise to BN tactics
He said Umno's Kuang (Selangor) assemblyperson Shukur Idris' proposal that Umno stop development allocations to all Pakatan constituencies during the party's AGM on Friday was nothing new.
Nizar said: "Umno has been doing this the past 52 years, telling voters that the opposition can never bring development to their constituencies like the BN and the people have been buying this propaganda .However, March 8 last year showed that the voters had wised up to the gimmicks and antics of BN, he said.
Nizar dismissed Najib's 1Malaysia slogan as just rhetoric and a political gimmick, while his deputy Muhiyiddin Yasin and other Umno leaders are harping on Malay supremacy.
He alleged that Umno's political survival depended on the divide and rule policy and is sceptical that 1Malaysia will ever take root as envisioned by Najib.
Nizar said during Pakatan's 10-month rule of Perak, they did not differentiate constituencies as Pakatan or BN but treated all voters as Perakians and allocated the state funds rightly due to them.
As to Najib's contention that BN took over the state government legally, Nizar stated that a 'back-door entry' was never popular.
An independent survey recently showed 92 percent of Perakians want the state assembly to be dissolved and fresh elections called for.
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