Kit Siang: Umno/BN in new plot to wreck Opposition
Pakatan Rakyat afflicted with the greatest crisis since its formation seven years ago.
(Free Malaysia Today) – The Umno leadership, warned DAP elder statesman Lim Kit Siang, is already orchestrating a new plot to try to further undermine Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and foment disunity and distrust among the three parties in the opposition alliance through the ploy of Umno/Barisan Nasional (BN) staying out of the Chempaka state by-election in Kelantan while going all out in the Permatang Pauh parliamentary by-election.
He noted that Umno leaders like Kelantan Chairman Mustapa Mohamad, Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin and even Gerakan President Mah Siew Keong have been given the “green light” to sound out in public the proposal that Umno/BN should stay out of the Chempaka by-election, “giving all sorts of grand-sounding reasons to camouflage the political design behind such a move”.
The parliamentary and state by-elections follows the five-year jail sentence for Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, upheld by the Federal Court on Tuesday 10 February, and the passing of Tok Guru Nik Aziz on Thursday night.
Lim was speaking at the inaugural DAP SSS (Support, Sympathy and Solidarity) with Anwar Ibrahim ceramah at Dewan Orang Ramai, Taman Cheras Jaya, Selangor on Sunday.
In the spirit of national reconciliation to pave the way for the coming together of all Malaysians for a common national cause, regardless of race, religion and politics, added Lim, Umno/BN should be consistent and stay out of both Chempaka and Permatang Pauh.
As I said at the luncheon talk for Dr. Carl Vadivella Belle’s new book “Tragic Orphans – Indians in Malaysia” earlier on Sunday, continued Lim, there’s an urgent need for a National Reconciliation process regardless of race, religion or political belief, to save Malaysia from becoming a “failed state”.
“No Malaysian should end up as a ‘tragic orphan’ in Malaysia. We should counter the rise of extremism, bigotry and intolerance in our society.”
Lim, who is also DAP Parliamentary Leader and Gelang Patah MP, expressed no doubts that “Umno/BN strategists are burning the midnight oil to plan new plots to try to bring about the disintegration of PR”.
He conceded that the opposition alliance cannot and should not hide the fact that it is afflicted with the greatest crisis since its formation seven years ago, “even more challenging than the first crisis PR faced in September 2011, which nearly led to its end”.
