KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz (pic) says he has no hard feelings over the decision to retain Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor as the Barisan Nasional secretary-general.
The Padang Rengas MP said that he is now free to express his views without being tied to the coalition's position.
"It makes my life easier because I am a maverick politician, and also in many ways a non-conformist who is not rebellious," he said.
Nazri added when contacted that having a Barisan post would not allow him to be free to express himself.
"Having a post in Barisan would not allow me to be free to express myself as I sometimes need to play a wayang kulit (shadow play)," he said.
He also said he has no grudges against anyone as he has "been a winner" in all party, divisional and even general elections.
"When you are a winner, you're big hearted so you have no time to be angry," Nazri added.
Nazri's appointment as Barisan's secretary-general was deemed unconstitutional as he was unilaterally appointed to the post by then Barisan chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi last October.
Barisan component parties MCA and MIC have since described Nazri's appointment as illegal and have not recognised it.
Nazri said he had no issues with Tengku Adnan being retained as the secretary-general as the latter has experience being in the post.
However, Nazri said he had misread the situation as he had hoped for senior Umno politician Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein to be appointed as Barisan's secretary-general.
"I was hoping that Hishammuddin would be suggested as he was a senior minister, vice president and an MP," said Nazri.
He added that he thought MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong and MIC president Tan Sri S.A Vigneswaran would propose Hishammuddin, saying that they were also youth leaders for their parties when Hishamuddin was Umno Youth chief.
"But there is no problem with Tengku Adnan," he added.
Nazri said he is free to pursue his political tasks for the future as the coalition's position is off his back, adding that one of those tasks is to ensure that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim gets the support from Umno lawmakers for him to become the Prime Minister once the baton is passed on to him by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
"I am not saying that Anwar must fight with Dr Mahathir for the post. I am saying that once the baton has been passed to Anwar, then I have to ensure Anwar has the support (in Parliament) to become the next Prime Minister," said Nazri.
The former law minister also said that he will now pursue the Malay agenda by working with PAS, as it is one way to recapture the federal government.
Nazri said that in the previous general election, his majority was only over 2,000 votes in a three-cornered fight.
"I got about 10,000 votes, the PAS candidate got about 7,000 votes while PKR got about 8,000 votes.
"So if there is a two-cornered fight (between Umno and PKR), I can get a higher majority so I really want to pursue this," he said.
Nazri, however, was quick to add that pursuing the Malay agenda will not be at the expense of non-Malays.
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