SEPT 20 — “...I want Awang to know that I am always sure who my boss is. It’s not (Lim) Kit Siang nor (Datuk Seri) Anwar (Ibrahim) because they are not prime minister of Malaysia, the chairman of BN or president of Umno.” — Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Tan Sri Abdul Aziz in his open letter to Awang Selamat.Nazri’s open letter to Awang Selamat mentioned many things that caught my attention, which include: his courage in facing criticism by the opposition, his call for Utusan Malaysia to meet its KPI of increased readership and refraining from subverting the 1 Malaysia concept by promoting Ibrahim Ali’s narrow racism, his claim of his “parliamentary civility” that led to five opposition MPs crossing over and, finally, his closing remark of being a Malaysian first and Malay next.
But the most significant was his definition of “Who’s the boss?”, which in his case is the prime minister.
I believe that the Real Boss of our nation is the rakyat and the Federal Constitution.
If all members of the Cabinet under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak subscribe to this same belief, then Malaysians in general will benefit from clearer (and firmer) policies, a more sustainable environment for better ethnic relations, and a country where the rights of the many are held high above the interests of the few.
First and foremost to living this belief is the commitment to a free media, which I urge the Najib administration to hold sacred.
So Utusan Malaysia has to decide if Najib, Ibrahim Ali or even Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is its boss.
So where Utusan Malaysia is allowed to choose who its bosses are, the government can only choose to satisfy its only boss, which is the rakyat.
Therefore, I call upon Nazri and Awang Selamat to support the call for a free media, as a show of loyalty to the real boss of the nation.
* Nurul Izzah Anwar is the MP for Lembah Pantai.
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