Kit Siang: I am okay with Dr Mahathir’s Malays-only stand
On Saturday, Mahathir said PPBM has to remain a Malay party and Kit Siang says its okay
(FMT) – Lim Kit Siang says he may not agree with all of what Dr Mahathir Mohamad had said about PPBM not allowing DAP candidates to contest under the PPBM ticket in the next general election, but understood his stand.
Lim was referring to comments made by the PPBM chairman when asked if the party would allow DAP candidates to contest under the PPBM ticket, should the Registrar of Societies deregister the party.
On Saturday, Mahathir said PPBM has to remain a Malay party in order to gain the support of Malay voters who are “still very communal”.
“If they (Malay voters) see a multi-racial party, they will not support it. They (Pakatan Rakyat) got a lot of support from the Chinese, but little Malay support and without it, you can’t win.
“So we can replace Umno with our group (PPBM), not by being like Umno, but we would be a Malay party,” the Pakatan Harapan chairman said.
Lim contended that PPBM was still more Malaysian than Umno, as the former wants Malays to unite and work with other citizens, while the latter wants Malaysians to remain Malays, Chinese and Indians and is even trying to polarize the next elections as a battle between the Malays and Chinese.
“The Pakatan Harapan parties of DAP, PKR, Amanah and PPBM do not want GE14 to be a battle between the Malays and Chinese, but for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, to take one big stride forward – to unite as Malaysians and save it from the trajectory of a failed and a rogue state,” the Gelang Patah MP said.
Lim, who is also DAP’s parliamentary leader, also called out Barisan Nasional components MCA, Gerakan, MIC for allowing Umno to carry on with such racist political tactics in pitting the Malays against the Chinese.
“Why do they allow Umno to carry out such an irresponsible propaganda campaign which, if successful, will cause grave disunity and division in multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-cultural Malaysia.”
He also advised MCA leaders to “stop building castles in the air” by claiming to have regained some of the Chinese voters whom they lost in the last general election (GE13).
“MCA leaders are claiming that Chinese voters are swinging back to the MCA, and they estimate that some 35% of Chinese voters will vote for MCA candidates, after losing support of 85% of the Chinese voters in GE13.
“I have grave doubts. Unless MCA leaders are prepared to show that they have political principles, and put the interest of the community and the nation above MCA party interests, they could do even worse than the last general election,” Lim said.
