Of Nasir, Najib, 1Malaysia and the Altantuya link

By Wong Choon Mei (Harakah

concern is mounting that the PM may let his special officer off the hook despite allegedly making racist comments that contradict his 1Malaysia plan. “If Najib wants to be taken seriously, then he should personally order the police to arrest Nasir for making seditious comments that threaten national security and may break the harmony of the different races in Malaysia,” PKR leader and Padang Serai MP N Gobalakrishnan told Harakahdaily.

Earlier this week, Nasir - who claims he never intended to offend anyone - tendered his resignation after allegedly saying that “Indians came to Malaysia as beggars and Chinese especially the women came to sell their bodies” at an official 1Malaysia forum. Since then, he has also made a public apology.

“I would like to again openly apologise to all Malaysians for the remarks that are seen as racist. I really did not intend it that way,” Nasir said in a statement on Thursday.

However, civil society groups and political leaders from both side of the divide say that is not enough. They have demanded that he be sacked and a police investigation be launched immediately.

Move to get Nasir off the hook begins

So far, 12 police reports have been lodged by various quarters throughout the country and according to the Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan, Nasir will be investigated under the Sedition Act.

However, Malay rights pressure group Perkasa – which is linked to Umno – has defended Nasir. “I understand why Nasir said that, I can symphatise with him, I want to say the same things but I have to control myself, I am more mature now,” said Ibrahim Ali, the president of Perkasa.

Indeed, even the 1Malaysia Youth Graduates Club has begun urging Najib to pardon him, with 20 members gathering at the front of the Prime Minister's Department in a show of support for Nasir on Wednesday.

“This issue was a result of provocation," said the club’s deputy chairman Najieb Mokhtar. "He has conducted 60 talks in 2009 and 22 talks so far this year. They were never misconstrued and misunderstood.”

The Altantuya link?

But despite the noise, the shadow play and the behind-the-scenes horse-trading, Malaysians fear that perhaps it is the alleged Altantuya link that will determine Nasir’s fate with his boss - rather than the survivability of Najib's 1Malaysia vision, a platform on which the PM had hoped to unite the races.

“The comments that Nasir allegedly made are a direct contradiction of 1Malaysia, which has already become a joke because it is not being powered by sincerity. Instead it is riddled with flip-flop decisions and hypocrisy,” Salahuddin Ayub, PAS vice-president, told Harakahdaily.

In 2008, private investigator P Balasubramaniam had revealed in an explosive statutory declaration that a Malay man in a blue Proton Saga had passed by the house of Razak Baginda - a close associate of Najib's - on the night of October 19, 2006, when Altantuya's murderers had intercepted her.

According to news portal Malaysia Today, Bala told the police the man in the blue Proton was Nasir Safar. But the police rubbished his claims. Bala was working for Baginda at that time and had witnessed the incidents that took place in front of Baginda's house.

In his statutory declaration, Bala had also alleged that Altantuya had been Najib’s mistress and that the PM had asked Baginda to look after Altantuya financially. Najib has repeatedly denied ever knowing Altantuya, while Harakahdaily is still trying to contact Nasir for his response.