PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said that such a dialogue was crucial to outline policy reforms which will guarantee the rights of all Malaysians as equal citizens of the country.
Dr Mahathir said recently that Malaysia only belonged to the Malays and other races are expected to respect Malay sovereignty.
In response, Nurul Izzah stressed the need for the dialogue to focus on a bi-partisan bill, titled the Democracy Rehabilitation Act so that it may be tabled in the upcoming Dewan Rakyat sitting for “rationality” to be restored to the country’s development agenda.
She said the bill would ensure that there would be no confusion over the rights of the country’s citizens. The Lembah Pantai MP has been promoting the bill since last year.
“I humbly request that our rational PM immediately make a responsible response to Dr. Mahathir’s “Tanah Melayu” statement and also to begin a true National Dialogue for Political Reforms leading to the introduction of a bi-partisan bill named the Democracy Rehabilitation Act in the upcoming Parliamentary sitting that will restore rationality to our national development and transformation agenda once and for all,” she said in a statement.
The Malaysian Insider understands that the proposed Act includes, among others, a revocation of all emergency declarations, and repeals of “anti-democratic laws” such as the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA).
Nurul Izzah also took a swipe at Najib today, saying that a “rational national leader” would not accept Dr Mahathir’s “divisive” remarks.
The Lembah Pantai MP accused Dr Mahathir of interpreting Malaysia’s history irresponsibly to justify a single race brand of nationalism at the expense of the “inclusiveness” of Najib’s 1 Malaysia.
“Indeed, what would the PM say in reply to Dr. Mahathir’s “Tanah Melayu” pronouncement, detailing a regressive history lesson and against the rational progressive intent of 1 Malaysia being promoted by the former?” added the PKR lawmaker.
Opposition leaders have insisted that Dr Mahathir’s statement was a direct contradiction to Najib’s 1 Malaysia concept of equality.
In a speech on Tuesday, the former prime minister told Malaysians to admit that the country belonged to the Malays and that they had to accept the culture and language of the dominant community.
He said that the country’s forefathers gave the Chinese and the Indians citizenship because they expected the communities to respect Malay sovereignty.
“This country belongs to the Malay race. Peninsular Malaysia was known as Tanah Melayu but this cannot be said because it will be considered racist.
“We must be sincere and accept that the country is Tanah Melayu,” Dr Mahathir said.
He also said the administration must be clear on what is 1 Malaysia.
In a poll conducted by the Merdeka Center last year, only 39 per cent of non-Bumiputeras accepted the 1 Malaysia concept in spite of the fact that it had been introduced for over a year at that point in time.
Forty-six per cent out of 3,141 respondents interviewed felt that 1 Malaysia was only a “tactic to win over non-Malay support” while another 16 per cent had either refused to answer the poll questions or claimed to have no understanding of the concept whatsoever.
Respondents were undecided on whether Malaysia had become more united under the Najib administration, with 48 per cent saying “yes” and 43 per cent claiming that the country was still disunited.
Veteran Umno politician and one-time Finance Minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah also agreed and said that the 1 Malaysia slogan was “hollow” and had lacked direction and vision and even compared it to Dr Mahathir’s Vision 2020. - Malaysian Insider
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