Kit Siang: Najib insults intelligence of the Malays

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Umno propagandists are giving the Malays the supreme insult by asserting that Malays will lose political power to DAP and the Chinese if Najib and Umno lose in next general election.

This is, said DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang, is a clear showing that Najib and his gang doubt the intelligence and capabilities of the Malays.

They are attempting to distract national attention and cover up the scale of and iniquity of the RM2.6 billion that went into Najib's personal bank accounts and the debt-laden 1MDB twin mega scandals, Lim said.

"This is why the reckless and baseless campaign to demonise DAP as anti-Malay and anti-Islam and warnings that the 14th general election (GE14) will be a battle between Umno and DAP to determine the survival of Malay political power will intensify.

"There is a 'master' game plan to escalate the campaign in the next two-and-a-half years, before the next general election," Lim said at a ‘Mana RM2.6 billion?’ dinner held by the DAP in Senawang, Negeri Sembilan, last night.

"Najib and his Umno propagandists are treating Malays as people with very low intelligence quotient (IQ), who do not have the intelligence and capability to differentiate fact from fiction, truth from lies, and who could be easily deceived to believe such canard," Lim said.

The next election will not be battle between Umno and DAP, but a battle between the BN led by Umno and the Pakatan Harapan coalition of DAP, PKR and Parti Amanah Negara, the MP for Gelang Patah added.

He reiterated that DAP was never a Chinese party right from the beginning, and that the party remained committed to the principles and vision of a Malaysian party.

No way Malays will lose political power

"Whatever happens in GE14, whether Najib is toppled as prime minister or Umno loses the federal government, the Malays will continue to exercise political power in Malaysia as there is no way they will lose their political power.

"The demographic reality is the surest guarantee that the Malays will not lose political power, whatever happens to Najib or to Umno in the next general election," Lim added.

"Out of the 165 parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia, 114 are Malay majority seats representing some 70 percent, 22 Chinese majority seats or 13 percent and 29 mixed seats. There is not a single Indian majority seat."

In such a situation with Malay predominance in the political scene, the demographic make-up of the general population and the electorate in the parliamentary constituencies, Lim called on Najib and his Umno propagandists to explain how the Malays could lose their political power.

"Surely Najib and his Umno propagandists are not insinuating that the Malays in the country are simpletons, who have no intelligence or capability," he said.

"The stark facts are for all to see – political power in Malaysia is not going to fall out of Malay hands, whether to the Chinese or to any other ethnic community, whether Najib or Umno are toppled in the 14GE or not."

Lim added: "GE14 is not going to be a battle between Umno and DAP; it is not a showdown between the Malays and Chinese, but between the BN coalition government of Malaysians versus the Pakatan Harapan coalition.

“The central question in the next election is about the survival of Malaysia and the Malaysian people – whether Malaysians, regardless of race or religion, can save Malaysia from the present national trajectories towards a failed and rogue state.

"It is (about Malaysians) liberating the country and Malaysians from the rampant corruption, abuses of power and the widespread socio-economic policies and nation-building failures of the Najib and the BN government." -Mkini