PETALING JAYA: An MCA vice-president has accused PPBM Youth leader Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim of changing their tune about Zakir Naik to increase their respective party’s voter base.
“It goes to show they are hypocritical and posturing to the populist view only when it suits them but cave in to the political reality of a need to capture the bigger vote base,” said MCA vice-president Ti Lian Ker.
He told FMT: “As far as Malaysians are concerned, they are against Zakir Naik but the political reality is that PPBM and PKR will have a bigger voter base at the next general election if they have the support of the Muslims and Malays, who are generally in support of Naik.”
Ti said it was “totally despicable” for Syed Saddiq and Anwar to make a U-turn on Naik, despite originally stating their disagreement with him.
“I think by now, a lot of people have realised the true business of Pakatan Harapan politicians, who in the past hide behind populist sentiments,” Ti added. “When these are put to the test, they fail and their principles collapse.”
Naik, a controversial preacher from India, is a permanent resident of Malaysia. He recently sparked controversy when he allegedly questioned the loyalty of Malaysian Hindus to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. He was later quoted as saying that the Chinese in Malaysia could also be considered as “guests” in the country.
PKR president Anwar Ibrahim had initially urged Naik to apologise to Mahathir and said he disagreed with him. However, he later said Naik did not intentionally insult or question the Chinese and Indians.
Syed Saddiq had called for Naik to be deported but later urged Malaysians to “move on” after Mahathir ruled out Naik’s deportation.
Ti said the government was singing “different tunes at different times” about Naik to cater to different audiences. “That is why there are contrasting opinions made on social media or when addressing the public and party grassroots,” he said.
“But ultimately, they are posturing for the Malay and Muslim votes that will be the determining votes of the coming GE15. They need a substantial amount of the Malay vote to win the next GE. There will also be more Malays now that those under-18 can vote,” he added.
However this strategy did not take into account the views of minority ethnic groups. He said Pakatan Harapan received 90% of the Chinese vote at the 2018 general election, which was now at risk.
Sabah MCA women’s chief Pamela Yong urged DAP and its 42 MPs to state their stance on Anwar and Syed Saddiq, noting that DAP constantly harps about realising the “Malaysian Malaysia” dream.
She said Naik had too often tested national harmony. However the power and authority to deal with him lay with “those who were given the mandate to defend the peoples’ hope of a Malaysia where no race is discriminated against nor marginalised”. She added that this was DAP’s “lifelong pledge, vow and covenant.” - FMT
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