Malay unity not a threat to other races, says Najib

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 — Umno’s determination to nurture unity among the Malays does not mean the party is racist or against other races in the country, emphasised Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today.

Parrying claims for the umpteenth time that Umno was racist, the Umno President stressed that the party has always upheld the belief that the nation’s strength depended on cooperation between the races. 

“Malay unity doesn’t mean we’re against other races. We must work with the other races. This has been our spirit from the time of Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak… So why would we want to discard what has been built by our founding leaders?

“If we don’t want to work with other races, Tunku (Abdul Rahman) would not have formed the Alliance (party), Tun (Abdul) Razak would not have formed BN. But they did it because our nation’s strength must be based on cooperation between the races. This we must uphold,” he said.  

In a special interview with Bernama and Utusan Malaysia editors in conjunction with the 2012 Umno General Assembly, Najib (picture) said the racist accusation was opposition propaganda to topple Umno, and steps must be taken to rectify the perception it has created.   

“That’s their accusation. We’ve never been racist, from the very beginning. There are only a few actions which can give rise to such a perception and we must rectify it and we will,” he said.

Najib said, in the context of justice, he strongly held the Islamic principle which demands that a leader should always be fair to all parties.

“I uphold Islamic principles. God says, as leaders we must be fair and God did not say it only to Muslims. That’s why we cannot take everything because others have also contributed towards the country. 

“Indians with the estates and construction of roads, Chinese and their entrepreneurship, contribution in business for our country, and they all pay taxes too.

“As long as we understand this matter. Whatever we want to help the Malays with, we’ll help. And whatever we want to help the Chinese and Indians with, we help fairly and equally,” he said.

Najib added that it was also important to ensure non-Muslim Bumiputera communities in Sabah and Sarawak, as well as Orang Asli, were not sidelined as they were entitled to justice in this country.  

As to the Bumiputera agenda, Najib said, it must be continued to ensure the majority of the population was not sidelined from the nation’s development and progress.  

“If we grow and manage to make this country developed but its majority are left behind, surely this will not contribute to the well-being and stability of our nation,” he said. 

The prime minister said the 1 Malaysia concept was inspired to ensure the people better understood that Malaysia was a country where all the races benefitted from the national leadership. — Bernama