Najib must act against Utusan Malaysia, says Kit Siang

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 — The DAP’s Lim Kit Siang said today Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak must prove he has the political will to take action against Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia for allegedly stoking communal tension.

Lim described the Malay-language daily as “the biggest enemy of the 1 Malaysia concept” for allegedly publishing on a daily basis news and opinion pieces that ran counter to the slogan introduced by Najib.

The veteran opposition leader said the nation’s sixth prime minister had introduced various programmes aimed at transforming the nation, such as the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) since taking over power from Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in April 2009.

Lim (picture) noted that Najib had added a third political component to his “transformation” programmes after a marathon meeting with 105 Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs two days ago, to strengthen his 1 Malaysia unity concept, but had done little to prove the slogan was working.

The father of Penang’s chief minister said politicians from the 13-party ruling front — apart from Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz — had yet to take a firm stand and proclaim their priority to nationality before race, in support of the unity slogan.

“Why have the ministers, for instance, not only from Umno, but also from MCA, Gerakan, MIC and Sarawak and Sabah component parties failed to raise in the Cabinet the gravest challenge and threat to Najib’s 1 Malaysia — Utusan Malaysia’s daily lies and falsehoods to stoke communal hatred and ill-will and undermine national division?” he asked.

He questioned if their silence meant they were in support of Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who had previously declared he was a Malay first and a Malaysian second.

Lim appeared to suggest that being in the latter camp would mean the BN politicians rejected the 1 Malaysia concept that was meant to unite Malaysians from diverse racial, religious and geographic backgrounds.

“The country had never been more divided in the nation’s 53-year history than in the 18 months of Najib’s premiership, highlighting the hollowness and hypocrisy of his 1 Malaysia concept, precisely because the loudest voice against Najib’s all-inclusive 1 Malaysia concept had come from none other than Umno’s official organ, Utusan Malaysia, which had been churning out a daily staple of lies and falsehoods to stoke communal hatred and national division,” Lim said.

The secular DAP has been facing relentless attacks from Utusan Malaysia over the former’s defence of the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat government in the ongoing controversial appointment of the state secretary post.

Yesterday, the paper allegedly featured an article penned by a columnist under the pseudonym “Awang Selamat” who claimed that the predominantly Chinese party wanted to abolish the Malay sultanate system to create a republic.

Lim had called Utusan’s claim a “lie”, and stressed that his party has always been committed to upholding the Federal Constitution, which provides for a constitutional monarchy system. - Malaysian Insider