Dr M: Racial polarisation more pronounced now thanks to DAP
Sean Augustin, fz.com
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad believes racial polarisation has become “more pronounced now than ever before” and has blamed the DAP for causing the schism.
The former prime minister said the results of the May 5 general election proved this as the DAP had allegedly played on racial sentiments by depicting the MCA as lackeys of Umno, thus leading the Chinese away from the Barisan Nasional (BN).
Mahathir went on to cite the large Chinese attendance at rallies organised by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and PKR, with Chinese youths decked in black shirts and masks, making up a majority of the demonstrators as well as the lack of respect by Chinese youth for the national flag by displaying it upside down as proof of the “role of Chinese racism” in the election.
He noted in such rallies, PAS members were “noticeably absent” and had in fact dissociated themselves from the agitation to overthrow the government through street demos ala Arab Spring.
The protests, Mahathir concluded, seemed to be “mainly a Chinese affair”.
He said that was an “indisputable fact” that the DAP had succeeded in destroying the collaboration or sharing between the different races as exemplified by the BN.
In slamming Pakatan Rakyat, Mahathir said it was not a true coalition but simply an election pact between the parties opposed to BN, which clearly benefited the chauvinist Chinese in DAP.
“If today the schism between the races is deeper it is because the DAP rejects the Malay/Chinese/Indian ‘kongsi’.
“The DAP wants the Chinese who already dominate the economy, to dominate Malaysia’s politics as well,” he wrote in his blog this morning.
DAP, he added, was clearly racist and rejected inter-racial sharing of power and wealth as advocated by the BN and as a result racial polarisation has become more pronounced.
“It will become more so in the future,” he claimed.
The majority of Chinese votes that swung towards the opposition led to BN chief Datuk Seri Najib Razak calling it a ‘Chinese Tsunami’, despite the ruling coalition securing a fresh mandate to govern the nation.
The prime minister has since called for a national reconciliation against a backdrop of provocative statements and news reports.
