Shahrizat’s May 13 remark a ‘crime’

Anwar says he understands that the former minister is trying to revive her political career but chides her for stooping to such levels.

PETALING JAYA: Wanita Umno chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s speech which raised the spectre of the May 13 riots is “highly seditious” and should be considered a crime, said Anwar Ibrahim today.

The opposition leader said that it is an attempt to sow animosity among the races and to spread fear of violence and bloodshed if Umno loses power.

“This is not only reckless but highly seditious and therefore criminal,” he told a press conference this morning.

Anwar said that while he understands that Shahrizat was trying to revive her political career after the damaging cattle rearing National Feedlot Centre scandal, it is “inexcusable to resort to such low hand tactics”.

He said this “relentless campaign of hate and fear mongering” is a prelude to a loss of power scenario which Umno fears will come true if Pakatan Rakyat takes over the government.

“With the mainstream media at its complete disposal, Umno is using every trick in the book to sow racial discord and instil fear among the people of the consequences that will befall them when Pakatan Rakyat comes to power.

“The just-concluded Umno general assembly provided yet another pretext to go on overdrive in this offensive of lies and intimidation led by Prime Minister and Umno president Najib Tun Razak.

“We condemn his reckless statement that Malaysia will lose its sovereignty in three years after Pakatan takes over,” he added.

Anwar claimed that the prime minister’s statement aims to sow the seeds of distrust among the people that Pakatan leaders are traitors who will pawn the nation’s sovereignty for political power.

“Citing no facts nor providing any evidence, Najib’s scurrilous suggestion is therefore totally unfounded and can only be made by someone who has neither respect for the truth nor any sense of moral rectitude,” he added.

Shahrizat had raised the May 13 riots during the opening of the Wanita Umno general assembly here to encourage delegates to work harder for Umno’s victory.

The politician told delegates that a weak Umno would spread uneasiness among the Malay community and possibly invite the same racial conflict that caused the bloodshed during the 1969 tragedy.

“Do we want to such a terrible situation repeated in our country? Of course we do not,” she had said, according to the text copy of her opening address to those gathered at Dewan Merdeka here.