‘THE CHINESE ARE ALSO MALAYSIANS, THEY TOO BUILT THIS COUNTRY, THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO THEIR POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS’: TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE ANNUAR MUSA – THE CHINESE HAVE SEEN UMNO RENEGE ON THEIR WORDS THE VERY NEXT DAY

WHO the Chinese support in the next elections should not be made a racial issue, said Annuar Musa.

The Umno information chief said it was wrong to label the Chinese as anti-Barisan Nasional just because the community generally supported the opposition in recent years.

“This should not be seen in the racial context. The Chinese are also Malaysians. They too built this country. It is also because of the Chinese that there is BN today.

“For BN, we defend the togetherness, tolerance and mutual respect among all races, and honour the social contract.

“The party that we are against is DAP because of its socialist policies and objection against the Bumiputera concept,” he told reporters last night after speaking at the Umno-organised “Perjuangan for All” dialogue in Pinang Tunggal, Kepala Batas.

Annuar’s remarks came on the heels of attacks by some Umno leaders, against Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok, who was recently accused of funding DAP in a bid to unseat Barisan Nasional.

The allegation, first made by blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin last week, has been denied by both DAP and Kuok.

Annuar, who is Ketereh MP, said DAP had played up Chinese sentiments to win votes from the community in urban areas to the point of denying the contributions of BN’s predominantly Chinese parties MCA and Gerakan.

“Penang is developed because of Gerakan’s leadership in the past,” he said, referring to the state now controlled by the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan government.

“Malaysia has progressed because the contributions of MCA leaders had been huge. You cannot deny the contributions of both parties.

“But with the way DAP plays politics, making the parties seem irrelevant; even some leaders from MCA and Gerakan face a confidence crisis,” he said.

Even under such circumstances, Annuar stressed that the Chinese should not be labelled anti-BN.

“No need to have narrow minds and label the Chinese as DAP supporters. You cannot say DAP will always have the community’s support.”

He said history had shown that the Chinese never supported a single party forever, unlike the Malays who were more sentimental.

“Even now, there are Chinese voters unhappy with DAP. They may return to BN after seeing that DAP could not deliver and also face problems of alleged misappropriations,” he said.

The Chinese, Annuar said, were also very sharp in their evaluation of politics, as many were in business and wanted stability and economic growth.

“They may see again that BN is the party that can deliver.

“So we should stop this racial quarrel and respect the Chinese’s political aspirations.

“They too have rights protected by the constitution, and their views must be respected.”

– https://www.themalaysianinsight.com