Sarawak, Malacca polls litmus test for multiracial dream, says Kit Siang

 

DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has expressed concerns that the voter turnout in the upcoming Malacca and Sarawak polls may be as low as 30 percent and viewed this as an important indicator of whether Malaysia can become a multi-racial country or not. 

"The Malacca and Sarawak general elections will be important forerunners of the 15th general election to decide whether the Malaysian dream has come to an end and if there is no way for Malaysia to become a successful plural society.

"There is a sense of apathy, hopelessness, despair and desolation in the land that not much change had taken place in the 22-month Pakatan Harapan government, forgetting that the Harapan government was meant to last for five years until it was undemocratically toppled by the Sheraton Move," said the Iskandar Puteri MP in a statement today.

Lim pointed out that there were too many negative vibes in the country.

He claimed that Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s Keluarga Malaysia slogan was fake as illustrated by Budget 2022.

Lim cited former economic adviser of the Harapan government Mohammad Abdul Khalid who asked where was the fairness in the budget over the measly allocation of millions for non-bumiputera but billions for the bumiputera.

Malaysian first

The lawmaker said that in his 57 years in politics, he has always regarded himself as first and foremost a Malaysian.

"This has been distorted by my enemies to mean that I have sold out the Chinese or given up on my identity as a Chinese. They cannot be more wrong for (I have not) relinquished my ethnicity.

"I want everyone to regard himself or herself as a Malaysian first and foremost without relinquishing his or her ethnic identity and roots whether as a Chinese, Malay, Indian, Kadazan or Iban," he said in a speech at the launching of Liew Chin Tong’s book “Lim Kit Siang - Patriot, Leader, Fighter” in Skudai, Johor last night.

Lim, who was first elected to Parliament in 1969, said that he had endured many demonisation campaigns and was portrayed unfairly as anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Malay rulers.

The DAP stalwart also said he had been falsely accused of being a communist and the cause of the May 13, 1969 riots, noting that he had never been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for these reasons.

"The DAP is a party dedicated to the national interests," he added.

On paper, Lim's party is a multi-racial and social democratic one but it has also been perceived as a minority rights party due to its overwhelmingly Chinese leadership, which is often around 80 percent at the state level.

Only one out of the party's 42 MPs is a Malay.

Lim said that DAP supported the Harapan stand for the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Ismail Sabri and Harapan leaders to save Malaysian lives and livelihoods. 

"We must recognise that if Malaysia is to survive the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, all Malaysians must unite and be prepared to put aside their racial, religious, regional and political differences.

"For if Malaysia fails, no race, religion, region or political party can benefit from it," he added. - Mkini