• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • RSS
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
The Nut Graph

The Nut Graph

Making Sense of Politics & Pop Culture

  • Projects
    • MP Watch
    • Found in Conversation
  • Current Issues
    • 6 Words
    • Commentary
    • Features
    • Found in Quotation
    • News
  • Columns
  • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Found in Malaysia
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Pictures
    • Videos
  • Corrections
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Vault
    • Found in Translation

Dr M: Anyone who’s Bangsa Malaysia can be PM

November 12, 2008

PUTRAJAYA, 12 Nov 2008: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said everyone could be Malaysia’s prime minister as long as the person is of Bangsa Malaysia and acceptable to all Malaysians.  

The former prime minister said that in this country, the law provided that anybody could become prime minister although the person must be the leader of the party that commanded the majority support.

“When we talk about non-Malay PM (prime minister), we are being racist. We should not ask the question whether he is a Malay or non-Malay,” he told reporters after delivering his keynote address at the Perdana Discourse Series on “Bangsa Malaysia” here today.

Mahathir was commenting on whether Malaysia was ready to have a non-Malay prime minister in light of the recent outcome of the US presidential election, where Barack Obama became the first elected African American US president.

Earlier in his keynote address, Mahathir said the race-based Barisan Nasional (BN) was still relevant to tackle racism.

“The BN has proven that for the last 50 years, the party has actually reduced the debate on racism and developed this country to the level that we are today,” he said.

Mahathir also denied that the BN did not do well in the last general election because of rejection from the people who were sick of race politics. 

“To say that the BN did not do well because people rejected the race-based party is quite wrong. How can they say the rejection was because of the race-based party … because the party they are supporting like PAS, DAP and Keadilan are also race-based parties.

“Why they don’t like the social contract, it is because of the race [factor]. Why they want a non-Malay PM, this is because of the race [factor too],” he added.

Mahathir said the issue should be addressed slowly and the people must be prepared to make a sacrifice.

“That can only be done, of course, not through the opposition party but to go back to the race-based party, BN. I think the race-based parties are still relevant whether we like it or not”, he added. — Bernama

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related Stories

Filed Under: News Tagged With: bangsa Malaysia, Barisan Nasional, Mahathir Mohamad, opposition, politics, prime minister, race

Primary Sidebar

Search

Twitter

My Tweets

Recent Comments

  • Wave33 on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Adam on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Andre Lai on The Nut Graph stops publication

Recent News

  • The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Nasihat tentang sepupu yang mengganggu perasaan
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: The Sunni-Shia split and the answer to Muslim unity
  • Why Malaysia needs the national unity bills
  • Challenging government in the digital age: Lessons from Kidex
  • Najib’s failure
  • Babi, anjing, pondan: Jijik orang Islam Malaysia
  • Kidex and the law – What the government’s not telling you
  • Beyond Dyana Sofya
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: Does Malaysia need hate speech laws?

Tags

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Anwar Ibrahim Barisan Nasional BN Bukit Selambau by-election dap Deborah Loh Ding Jo-Ann Election Commission elections Found in Malaysia Found in Quotation Gan Pei Ling government high court Hishammuddin Hussein ISA islam Jacqueline Ann Surin Khairy Jamaluddin KW Mak Lim Guan Eng Malaysia MCA Menteri Besar MP Watch Muhyiddin Yassin muslim Najib Razak Pakatan Rakyat Parliament Parti Keadilan Rakyat pas Penang Perak PKR police politics prime minister Selangor Shanon Shah Umno Wong Chin Huat Zedeck Siew

Footer

  • About The Nut Graph
  • Who Are We?
  • Our Contributors
  • Past Contributors
  • Guest Contributors
  • Editorial Policy
  • Comments & Columns
  • Copyright Policy
  • Web Accessibility Policy
  • Privacy Policy
The Nut Graph

© 2023 The Nut Graph