Gerakan plans to push Perikatan Nasional to condemn Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s latest controversial statement.
Party president Dominic Lau told Malaysiakini that the plan is to raise the issue at a coalition leadership meeting.
“We will raise this issue in the PN meeting this week,” he said.
He said that as a statesperson, it was completely inappropriate for the former prime minister to issue statements that offended the feelings of other races.
Lau said he previously met Mahathir to express his party’s regret over statements made during the by-election campaigns in Johor last year.
He said at that time, Mahathir referred to political parties led by non-Malays as immigrant parties.
Gerakan is one of the component parties of PN besides PAS and Bersatu.
Mahathir is also an advisor to PN in the four states that it governs.
Lau, in a statement today, also called on the government to advise the former Langkawi MP to stop cultivating sentiments that discriminate between races because they may damage the spirit of the Malaysian nation.
Considering Mahathir’s latest statement to be “very embarrassing”, the senator said it should not have been issued by a figure who once advocated “Vision 2020”.
“Malaysia is a unique country with a diversity of races and that diversity is the backbone of strength of this lucky country.
“What’s sad is that the former prime minister in his interview said non-Malays had been ‘compensated well’.
“Can we ‘compensate’ our own people?” Lau said.
Indian loyalty
Mahathir, who served as prime minister for 22 years from 1981 to 2003 and then 22 months from 2018 to 2020, claimed in an interview with Indian TV channel Thanthi TV that Malaysian Indians are not completely loyal to the country as they still identify with their country of origin.
He said one should identify as Malay to have the right to call the country their own.
“Malaysian Indians do not speak Malay as their home language, they speak Tamil (instead),” he said when the host asked if one can remain loyal to the country while committed to their roots.
The nonagenarian then said his “problem” is when “immigrants” (Indians and Chinese) call the country their own while professing their own cultures and customs.
Meanwhile, Lau went on to say that politicians should stop being shallow, seeing as they are living in a rapidly developing country.
“Malaysians need to unite and accept the fact that this country is a country built together based on unity.
“The seeds of understanding and friendship that we plant today will one day blossom into mutual prosperity,” he added. - Mkini
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