PN trying to portray itself as Malay unifier, says PKR man

 Taufiq Johari says both PN component PAS and former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad have divided the community in the past.

Sungai Petani MP Taufiq Johari said Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s proposal for Malay-based parties to come under a single, broad coalition is a ‘desperate and provocative move’. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA:

 PKR’s Taufiq Johari today accused Perikatan Nasional (PN) of attempting to portray itself as a unifier of the Malay community, following a PAS leader’s defence of Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s new alliance for “restoring Malay power” in the government.

In a statement, he said the former prime minister and PAS, a PN component, had “divided the community many times before in the past”.

He said Mahathir had quit Umno to form Bersatu and then Pejuang – all three of them Malay-based parties.

PAS, meanwhile, had broken up Muafakat Nasional, an alliance between the Islamic party and Umno, the country’s two largest Malay-Muslim parties, he said.

“Now PAS is the latest to jump on Mahathir’s false assertion that a new alliance is needed to restore Malay unity.

“Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man must know that Mahathir’s proposal for all Malay-based parties to come under a single, broad coalition is a desperate and provocative move,” he said.

Tuan Ibrahim, the PAS deputy president, said last night that Mahathir’s new platform was key to uniting the Malays.

He also said that the proliferation of political parties was one of the main reasons behind disunity within the community.

He said the democratic system had allowed the formation of many political parties and that a grand alliance involving intellectuals, corporate figures, politicians, and religious scholars was needed to unite the Malays.

He also said that Mahathir’s platform was different from PN, which was a coalition of political parties.

On Wednesday, Mahathir announced a new loose coalition which would include PAS and Bersatu, to rally the Malays in an effort to save the community from what he described as political and economic decline.

The event was attended by PN chairman Muhyiddin Yassin, opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin, and Tuan Ibrahim.

Taufiq, the Sungai Petani MP, labelled it a “gathering of disgruntled leaders” whom he said were trying to distract the public with a false narrative.

“I urge the Malays of today to look to the future, and not be tricked by these deceitful and irresponsible claims,” he said.

Separately, Urimai chairman P Ramasamy said while Mahathir’s new initiative was targeted at the Malays, it had implications for every ethnic group in Malaysia.

“Perhaps it is time for non-Malay communities to consider their own umbrella coalition – a political force to defend their rapidly eroding rights in an increasingly fragmented and directionless Malaysia,” he said in a Facebook post. - FMT