Nazri Aziz Barks At Tun Mahathir

Nazri slams Dr M over BTN course revamp

KUALA LUMPUR: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz has described Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as a racist for saying that there was no need to revamp the current National Civics Bureau (BTN) training modules.
“There are many instances of those who have come away from the course being angry as they felt words like ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ are ridiculous,” said Nazri, who stood firm with the Cabinet’s decision to overhaul the programme.
“I agree with Dr Mahathir’s sentiments about patriotism but not just for the Malays. When he was Prime Minister, he called for everyone to think as Malaysians. Now, that he is no longer Prime Minister, he’s asking for everyone to think otherwise,” he said at the Parliament lobby on Monday.
Nazri said he disagreed with any syllabus that concentrated on one community only.
“If the Opposition has a problem with the revamp, I want to know what it is. Do they want to say that Malaysia belongs to the Malays? I want them to point out to me where have I gone wrong,” he added.
Nazri also refuted a commentary in a Malay daily, which suggested that the BTN curriculum overhaul was his idea.
“It is a Cabinet decision. The decision to revamp the course came up shortly after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced the 1Malaysia concept,” he added.
In Cyberjaya, Dr Mahathir described criticisms levelled against the BTN modules as “mere exaggeration”.
He said the BTN courses had been around for more than 20 years and there had been no complaints from those who had attended the courses.
“In fact, the participants have always found the courses useful because we try to teach civil servants new cultures and new values. This is because the culture and value system that was in place then was not conducive to success.
“Therefore, if they want to serve the Government well, they must practice and accept certain value system like being more disciplined, honest and not corrupt. I don’t see what is wrong with that,” he said on Monday.
Dr Mahathir had earlier said that there was no need to revamp the BTN training modules as they were fine in instilling the patriotic spirit among Malaysians.
The BTN module came into spotlight when Selangor recently prohibited state civil servants and students of higher learning institutions owned by the state from attending the courses, claiming that they were an indoctrination process by the Barisan Nasional government and aimed at brainwashing Malaysians to hate Opposition parties.
Dr Mahathir said that during the BTN courses, when history of Malaysia was discussed, it would be mentioned that the country was once called Tanah Melayu.
“Now it is Malaysia because we have people who have come to settle down here. That is fact of history. You can’t deny facts and history. But if we can’t even mention that, then we are denying history,” he told reporters.

tunku : first of all i don't see any racist statement made by Tun Dr Mahathir. He mentioned civil servants and MALAYSIANS. he did not say let BTN only for the Malays.nazri aziz used to barks so he does that without any specific reason. the courses at BTN obviously attended by all races and it is not wrong to tell about the past(facts) as it is part of the country history. nazri should find other issue to be popular.he said that the BTN would be revamped recently but was denied immediately by the deputy minister in prime minister department ahmad maslan who is in charge of BTN, saying that it will be upgraded and improvise with the current issues.even Muhyiddin agrees with ahmad maslan. go bark somewhere else nazri.