Azmin: Whether 2015 fares better up to elite
Published: Jan 1, 2015 5:42 PM | Updated: Jan 2, 2015 9:12 AM
Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali in reflecting on the trials and tribulations of 2014 said whether Malaysians see a better year lies in the hands of the ruling elite.
“The question and challenge is to the ruling elite."
Top leaders must stop crying wolf and playing racial politics, says menteri besar.
Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali, in reflecting on the trials and tribulations of 2014, said whether Malaysians see a better year lies in the hands of the ruling elite.
“The question and challenge is to the ruling elite.
“Are they prepared to leave behind the narrow politics of race, crying wolf to get temporary support or discriminating the rakyat based on political alliances?
“The peope do not want this attitude of finger pointing anymore,” said the PKR deputy president in his New Year message today.
The people, said the first-term MB, want leadership that is built on trust to “refresh the spirit of tolerance, and to escape from narrow thinking towards the brightening and maturing of democracy”.
“In the spirit of the new year, I call for a new discourse, for more mature and responsible politics,” he said.
'No place for fanatics and extremists'
Noting today is his 100th day in office, Azmin said his administration promises to “fulfil that pledge to bring to the people of Selangor a government that is transparent, fully accountable and inclusive, in all its actions”.
“As a rakyat-oriented administration, our policies are driven by a firm commitment to economic progress, social justice and the uplift of the rakyat's wellbeing,” he said.
“Above all, the principles of justice and moderation will be the cornerstone in infusing the approach of the state administration in governing our multi-racial and multi-religious society,” he added.
Azmin said unity and harmony among all the communities “must not be compromised” and he pledges his administration will apply the principle of justice and moderation “at all times”.
“As menteri besar, I must stress that while every effort will be made to safeguard the position and sanctity of Islam as the state religion, fanatical and extremist sentiments will have no place in our administration,” he said.
Azmin, who took over the MB post after a protracted administrative crisis following his predecessor Abdul Khalid Ibrahim’s sacking from PKR and subsequent refusal to step down as MB, inherited a state that is at the heart of the row over non-Muslims’ use of the word ‘Allah’.
During Khalid’s tenure, the state religious authorities raided the Bible Society of Malaysia in Petaling Jaya and confiscated over 300 copies of the Malay and Iban bibles.
In 2011, the DUMC church was also raided by the state Islamic authorities under the pretext that Muslims were being converted to Christianity, an allegation that has never been proven.
“The question and challenge is to the ruling elite.
“Are they prepared to leave behind the narrow politics of race, crying wolf to get temporary support or discriminating the rakyat based on political alliances?
“The peope do not want this attitude of finger pointing anymore,” said the PKR deputy president in his New Year message today.The people, said the first-term MB, want leadership that is built on trust to “refresh the spirit of tolerance, and to escape from narrow thinking towards the brightening and maturing of democracy”.
“In the spirit of the new year, I call for a new discourse, for more mature and responsible politics,” he said.
'No place for fanatics and extremists'
Noting today is his 100th day in office, Azmin said his administration promises to “fulfil that pledge to bring to the people of Selangor a government that is transparent, fully accountable and inclusive, in all its actions”.
“As a rakyat-oriented administration, our policies are driven by a firm commitment to economic progress, social justice and the uplift of the rakyat's wellbeing,” he said.
“Above all, the principles of justice and moderation will be the cornerstone in infusing the approach of the state administration in governing our multi-racial and multi-religious society,” he added.
Azmin said unity and harmony among all the communities “must not be compromised” and he pledges his administration will apply the principle of justice and moderation “at all times”.“As menteri besar, I must stress that while every effort will be made to safeguard the position and sanctity of Islam as the state religion, fanatical and extremist sentiments will have no place in our administration,” he said.
Azmin, who took over the MB post after a protracted administrative crisis following his predecessor Abdul Khalid Ibrahim’s sacking from PKR and subsequent refusal to step down as MB, inherited a state that is at the heart of the row over non-Muslims’ use of the word ‘Allah’.
During Khalid’s tenure, the state religious authorities raided the Bible Society of Malaysia in Petaling Jaya and confiscated over 300 copies of the Malay and Iban bibles.
In 2011, the DUMC church was also raided by the state Islamic authorities under the pretext that Muslims were being converted to Christianity, an allegation that has never been proven.
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