Amid interfaith tensions, is Barisan ready to reconcile with Pakatan, asks DAP
Lee Shi-Ian, TMI
As the Cabinet prepares to hold its first meeting of 2014, a veteran DAP leader today asked whether it was prepared to make hard decisions to steer Malaysia out of troubled waters.
Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang said Malaysia was undergoing one of the worst racial and religious polarisation periods in its history.
“Is Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his Cabinet prepared to convene the national reconciliation summit between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat?” he said in a statement today.
“With Malaysia facing several crises, is Barisan Nasional prepared to put national interest above all partisan and self-interests?”
Lim said Najib needed to send out a clear and unmistakable message to end the drift and loss of leadership and direction.
He cited an interesting question posed by Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) executive council member Tan Sri Robert Phang, who had asked: “Why are we quarrelling over God?”
In his New Year statement, Phang had wondered whether Malaysians were so divided as a nation and so petty that we needed to quarrel over God.
Lim also asked whether Najib and his Cabinet were prepared to address the crises affecting Malaysia and rebuild national unity.
“I believe many Malaysians are having sleepless nights wondering about the country’s future as it seems to be on auto-pilot, bereft of leadership and direction from Putrajaya,” Lim said.
“Najib promotes 1Malaysia abroad, selling the concept that the various ethnic communities in the country regard themselves as Malaysians first and foremost.
“However, domestically, Putrajaya funds extremist and racist groups like Perkasa, who seem to be dedicated to destroying the 1Malaysia concept.”
Lim said in the eyes of many Malaysians, Putrajaya was a government whose right hand does not know what the left hand was doing.
He listed five national crises which needed to be resolved quickly for the good of the nation and all Malaysians.
