Kit Siang: Do you want Sharizats and Jamal Yunoses to run Malaysia?

PETALING JAYA: Malaysians must decide in the next general election if they want to put their future in the hands of the Shahrizats and Jamal Yunoses, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said.

He also challenged Prime Minister Najib Razak to lead his Barisan Nasional using his much-vaunted “wasatiyyah” (moderation) approach instead of using a “campaign of lies and falsehoods against the opposition”.

In a statement today, the Gelang Patah MP said under Najib, Umno had lost its plot. This is because it is “offering up as role models” for Malaysians people such as Umno Wanita chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and Sungai Besar Umno division chief Jamal Md Yunos.

Lim said Shahrizat had “no compunction delivering ‘hate speeches’” and Jamal had “no hesitation in taking the law into his own hands with utter contempt for the law enforcement officers”.

He said the 14th general election was a “critical and crucial test” as to whether Malaysia was capable of becoming a normal democratic country.

He slammed Najib for his “lies and falsehoods” against the opposition in his Umno presidential speech on Thursday.

He said Najib, in accusing the DAP of being anti-Malay and anti-Islam, had claimed “DAP yang terang terang anti-Melayu dan Islam, sebagai tercatat dalam perlembagaan DAP, langsung tidak menyebut Islam sebagai agama persekutuan” (DAP is openly anti-Malay and Islam, as is contained in its constitution, where it does not mention Islam as the official religion of the federation).”

“Is Najib aware that his baseless attack on the DAP as anti-Malay and anti-Islam applies in equal measure to the 12 other BN component parties, as his criticism that ‘tercatat dalam perlembagaan, langsung tidak sebut Islam sebagai agama persekutuan’ applies to all the other 12 BN component parties as well?

“Is Najib accusing the other 12 component parties of Barisan Nasional of being anti-Malay and anti-Islam just because of this?”

Lim then went on, at length, to state the preamble to the DAP constitution, and its stated objectives. Nowhere in the constitution is there any negative mention of Islam or Malays.

Lim said the DAP constitution, among other things, talked about striving for a social democracy, reaffirming the Malaysian Constitution as secular, promoting national integration with Sabah and Sarawak, recognising the special rights of Sabah and Sarawak, promoting freedom of religion, upholding Bahasa Malaysia as the national language, promoting transparency, promoting freedom of the press, and spreading economic prosperity to all.

The veteran politician asked: “Can Najib explain how he could honestly and honourably claim that the DAP’s constitution, based on the preamble and the objectives, ‘terang-terang anti-Melayu dan Islam sebagai tercatat dalam perlembagaan DAP’?”

Lim noted that the first three prime ministers – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Najib’s father Razak and Hussein Onn – had stood for a secular Malaysia.

“Is Najib suggesting that the first three prime ministers, including his father Tun Razak and his uncle Tun Hussein had been anti-Malay and anti-Islam?

“I feel more sad than angry that the prime minister of plural Malaysia should resort to such despicable and dangerous tactics to hang on to power and to divert attention from the great issues of the country, especially economic development and justice for Malaysians, educational excellence, integrity and good governance.

“From the very beginning of my political life, I have always held to the belief that no leader or political party which claims to be Malaysian can be anti any race or anti any religion in Malaysia because this is to fly against the reality of Malaysia as a plural nation of diverse races and religions.”

Lim asked why Najib was “throwing political principles, integrity and respect for truth to the winds” and accusing the DAP of being anti-Malay and anti-Islam when it clearly was not.

Saying Najib, in his speech at the Umno assembly, had painted a doomsday scenario for the Malays and Islam if Umno and the BN were to be defeated in the 14th general election, Lim asked:

“Would Najib stop such irresponsible politicking and set a ‘wasatiyyah’ example instead of leading a campaign of lies and falsehoods against the opposition in the run-up to the 14th general election?”

No race or religion, Lim said, would face a doomsday scenario if Malaysia were to become “a normal democratic country”, where the principle that the people decide who should form the government was fully entrenched in the political system and ethos of the country. -FMT