Pakatan leaders bash 1Malaysia concept
(Malaysian Mirror) – The 1Malaysia concept mooted by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak took a bashing at a mass rally here attended by the big guns of the Pakatan Rakyat on Tuesday.
However, while delivering the scathing attacks on Najib, the leaders of PKR, PAS and DAP also put on a brave defence against Barisan Nasional criticisms of the tripartite alliance.
The rally was the first major joint-event by the three parties following their squabble over the aborted unity talks between Umno and PAS.
They did not touch much on the issue that almost split their year-old alliance but turned on the heat on issues like language, the Internal Security Act, the merit-based National Scholarship and the scrapping of the 30% bumiputra equity for Malaysian companies seeking public listing,
The leaders who spoke
The main speakers at the event were Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang.
With the police keeping watch over the speakers and the crowd, the two-hour rally went without any untoward incident.
Lim claimed the 1Malaysia concept was already showing signs of cracking, citing the political impasse in Perak over the issue of the state’s mentri besar.
Abdul Hadi, who had been blasted by his own party members over his proposed unity government with Umno, said Islam encouraged unity among all people.
“PAS is a model of unity. Umno, on the other hand, has failed to even unite its own party,” he said.
Anwar alleged that the merit-based National Scholarship, announced by Najib last week, was merely an attempt to curb the discontent among the Chinese community over the scholarships distributed by the Public Service Department.
Pakatan can dio better, said Anwar
He claimed that liberalisation measures mooted by Najib, such as the abolition of the 30% bumiputra equity in companies seeking public listing, weresimilar to the Pakatan’s reform agenda.
He said the Barisan has yet to institute “real reforms”, such as eradicating corruption.
He claimed there was no political will among the top leadership in the Barisan, while Pakatan has the solutions to all problems.
