Kita casts net for GE candidates

Zaid Ibrahim invites Malaysians to join the Kita democratic revolution by selecting their own MPs from within their communities.

PETALING JAYA: Kita president Zaid Ibrahim has made two predictions. The first is that Barisan Nasional will probably lose in the next general election, and the second is that Pakatan Rakyat will find those shoes too big to fill.

His suggestion for averting such a predicament is to vote in a new brand of political leadership – one that he is confident Kita will deliver if it fields the best candidates from the grassroots.

“So Kita is extending an invitation to the good men and women of Malaysia to be parliamentary candidates under the party’s banner for the upcoming general election,” he told FMT today.

“We all know Malaysians want change. But we can only bring about changes if we abandon the false notions that BN and Pakatan cling to today.

“They would have Malaysians believe that we need to be a religious state to be moral and principled; that Malays and Bumiputera will be poor and marginalised if we have no discrimination against other communities; that freedom will bring chaos; and that using English in our education system will betray the national language,” he added.

While Zaid expressed faith in Malaysians to see beyond this propaganda, he also emphasised that a new political leadership is necessary to preserve democracy and abandon previous failed policies.

He pointed out that replacing BN with Pakatan would still see Malaysians being governed by the same ideas since the ideologies of both coalitions belong to the same school.

“The only difference is that BN relishes engaging in racial politics while Pakatan in religious matters,” Zaid said. “But both believe in some kind of hegemony.”

“BN has the New Economic Policy while Pakatan has the same policy under a different guise. BN will continue with failed education policies but so will Anwar, who architectured the present system,” he added.

Liberal, democratic and moderate M’sia

Zaid urged Malaysians to find a representative within their communities who is “willing to stand up and be counted”.

He reminded Malaysians of the tendency of political parties to offer little-known candidates at the eleventh hour and encourged them to select their own MP this time round.

“Many of you do not care who wins so long as BN loses and I think this is the wrong attitude,” he stated. “Nothing will be gained if we are not willing to sacrifice. We owe this much to our grandchildren and to their grandchildren.”

Zaid further vowed that Kita’s democratic revolution would bring about a Malaysia that is democratic, liberal and moderate.

“We will respect and honour the Federal Constitution with no ifs and buts,” he declared.

“We will give you an English education system that will bring back the glory days of the past when our students could speak, write and think. More importantly we will unite all Malaysians.”