Open Letter to Nazri and Awang Selamat: Who’s the Boss? By Nurul Izzah Anwar

20 September 2010

‘…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.’  -Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri bin Tan Sri Abdul Aziz in his open letter to Awang Selamat.

Dato’ Seri 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 1Malaysia concept by promoting Ibrahim Ali’s narrow racism, his claim of his ‘parliamentary civility’ that led to five opposition MP’s crossover 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 Malaysian cabinet under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak subscribed 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 free media, which I urge the administration of Datuk Seri Najib to hold as sacred.

So UTUSAN MALAYSIA has to decide if Datuk Seri Najib, Datuk Ibrahim Ali or even Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is their boss.

 So where UTUSAN MALAYSIA is allowed to choose who their bosses are, the government can only choose to satisfy their only boss, which is the rakyat.

Therefore, I call upon Dato’ Seri Nazri and Awang Selamat to support the call for a Free Media, as a show of loyalty to the real boss of the nation.

Sincerely,

Nurul Izzah Anwar