Racist rants: Zaid lashes out at Najib

The former law minister accuses the prime minister of allowing racial attacks in order to secure his Umno presidency

PETALING JAYA: Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim today criticised Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak for failing to silence the ultras in Umno, who are making racial attacks since the general election.

Zaid also accused Najib of deliberately allowing such racist statements to be made against fellow Malaysians just for the sake of protecting his Umno presidency.

“In the past, we allowed Najib some room to make contradicting statements as he was surrounded by hardlines in the party and he needed to bid his time.

“But enough is enough. We can see now that Najib is afraid to do the right thing for the country. His 1Malaysia is a sham. I blame him for allowing this racist attacks, just to pander to Umno delegates so he can retain power at the party elections scheduled for end of the year,” he said.

Last week, Umno owned Utusan Malaysia kickstarted the racial attack after the general election when it posted a provocative headline titled “Apa Lagi Cina Mahu” ( What more do the Chinese want).

In recent days, several other prominent members of the society had come out to demonise the non-Malays, with former judge Mohd Noor Abdullah accusing the Chinese of betraying the Malays by not voting for Barisan Nasional in the general election.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad also blamed BN’s dismal performance in the polls on “ungrateful Chinese and greedy Malays.”

Zaid, a former Umno MP, said that Najib should learn from his mentor, Mahathir, on how to keep check on the party delegates if he was bent on defending his party post.

“All Najib needs to do is ask the Umno supreme council to pass a resolution that no one should challenge him for the party presidency.

“That’s right. The Umno supreme council has the power to override the party constitution, which no other party in the world has, including the Communist Party of China,” he said.

With such powers at his disposal, Zaid said that there was no need for Najib to appear more Malay than his deputy, Muhyiddin Yassin or to allow such racial attacks to continue further.

“So there is no need to unleash the keris or for Utusan to get all these half-baked Malay leaders to spout hate,” said Zaid.

He cautioned Najib against such racial attacks, saying it would cause untold damage to the delicate racial and religious fabric existing in Malaysia.

“So please, spare innocent Malaysians of your Umno games. We want peace and harmony, not hate politics,” said Zaid.