KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 1 — Umno’s accusations that the DAP is anti-Malay spread to Parliament today when a lawmaker accused the opposition party of starting the May 13, 1969 race riots.
Speaking in the Dewan Rakyat, Ipoh Timor MP Lim Kit Siang described Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s accusation yesterday that the DAP was anti-Malay and anti-Islam as “slanderous lies” and one of several “hate speeches” made at Umno’s ongoing general assembly.
But Lenggong MP Datuk Shamsul Anuar Nasarah stood up and interrupted Lim (picture), the DAP parliamentary leader, by repeatedly shouting “May 13, Ipoh Timor.”
“It is true,” he said, referring to Muhyiddin’s speech when opening the Umno Youth and women’s wing assemblies. “May 13, who moved it? May 13, Ipoh Timor. Who moved on May 13?”
After MPs from PAS and PKR stood up to defend their Pakatan Rakyat (PR) colleague, other Umno MPs shouted that the DAP “cheats Malays” and “PAS is a warrior for DAP.”
They also accused PKR deputy president Azmin Ali (Gombak MP) and PAS political bureau member Khalid Samad (Shah Alam) of being supporters of “the racist DAP.”
The May 13 race riots, which some reports say killed over 2,000, were sparked off after opposition parties had denied the Umno-led Alliance its customary two-thirds majority in Parliament.
A victory parade in Kuala Lumpur led to a reaction by Malays and a state of emergency being declared.
Datuk Seri Najib Razak had said in his presidential address at the Umno general assembly this morning that his party was not racist and that it was in fact responsible for the country’s current “social stability.”
But he also said “let us not be complacent, as among leaders of the opposition are those who incited slogans to insult Malays that led to the May 13 tragedy.”
The prime minister has repeatedly pleaded to Umno delegates to adopt a more moderate approach, but his pleas appear to have gone unheeded.
Party conservatives have already been roused over the past two days by speeches demonising PR as anti-Malay, anti-Islam, “agents of Christianisation”, “bapok” (transvestites), “bangsat” (bastards) and “pondan” (effeminate).
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