By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
September 35, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s latest play at racial politics has earned him the wrath of his parliamentary foe Lim Kit Siang, who has now christened the former premier with a new nickname — “the number one racist in Malaysia”.

The DAP advisor slammed Dr Mahathir for playing the race card yet again when he claimed the Malays would lose power if Pakatan Rakyat (PR) defeats the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next general election.

“Our beloved former Prime Ministrer Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that in the next general election, the Malays would lose power if the PR forms the government.

“Imagine, a former Prime Minister, who ruled us for 22 long years, returning to politics as the number one racist in Malaysia,” he boomed to a crowd of over 1,000 people at a fundraising dinner in Bandar Menjalara here last night, organised by the Segambut DAP division. Lim’s rhetoric earned him thunderous applause from the crowd, who yelled in disagreement at Dr Mahathir’s latest assertion.

He also accused Dr Mahathir of appearing on the stump for Umno by trying to frighten off the Malay voters from voting PR.

“He is trying to instil fear in the Malays by playing the race card on them. This is the height of Dr Mahathir’s irresponsibility. He is becoming an ultra again,” Lim said.

Dr Mahathir, in his cautionary message to the Malay community on Thursday, also spoke of the possibility of a non-Malay snapping up the post of prime minister if PR took federal power as there was no constitutional restriction to stop this.

To further expound his prediction on the impact of a PR-helmed Federal government, the former Umno president had specifically singled out the case of former Perak mentri besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin.

Nizar, he said, was a sterling example of how Malay PR politicians had been sidelined in the coalition.

“We see Nizar in Perak…even though he was Mentri Besar, he followed the instructions of DAP until he fell. The Chinese claim this was BN’s move to bring down a Chinese government.

“So they called it a Chinese administration and is it not possible that we can have a prime minister like Nizar, Malay in name and a Muslim but not really independent and a tool of others,” he said.

During his 11-month rule in Perak, Nizar, from PAS, was often criticised as a DAP puppet who made all his administrative decisions at the whims and fancies of DAP cousins Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham and Nga Kor Ming.

Lim dusted off Dr Mahathir’s allegations however and claimed instead that the Perak PR government had been a “Malaysian government”.

“What Chinese government? The Perak government by PR was a Malaysian government. This is very sad. Dr Mahathir just wants to tell the Malays that if Umno loses the elections, the Malays will lose power.

“Is this true? That if Umno loses, will the Malays lose too? No,” he said, to a chorus of agreement from his audience.

Lim claimed that instead, the “Umnoputeras” would be the ones to lose, referring to the cronies in the ruling party.

“The Malays will not lose if they vote in PR. The Malays, the ordinary Malays, the Malaysians, they will not lose… they will have a bigger say in determining the destiny of their nation,” he said.

Lim also continued to slap insults on the BN government, with specific referrence to Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for his “Malay first” declaration and his recent claim that he did not have the power to punish two school principals for uttering racial slurs.

“What kind of deputy prime minister and the Education Minister at that, would have no power to take action against these school principals.

“If you have no power, then you have no right to be the deputy prime minister. Go away,” he said.

During the dinner function, a host of other DAP lawmakers also made political speeches and appeared to be on an early campaign trail, amid talk of an impending general election next year.

Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng told the crowd that Najib’s greatest fear was that Malaysians now had a taste for change and may possibly completely boot out BN in the next general election.

“He fears you. He fears that the people now have the courage to change. Only one group of people can do it — you.

“So what say you if we give Najib the fright of his life in the next general election?” he thundered.

Lip Eng also criticised the government’s recently unveiled Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), a major initiative worth RM1.3 trillion that is aimed at turning Malaysia into a high-income nation by 2020.

He pointed out that during his address to announce the ETP this week, Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) CEO Senator Datuk Seri Idris Jala himself had said that 92 per cent of funding for the programme would come from the private sector.

“He said the private sector would be the ETP’s backbone. This means the private sector — local businessmen, you, me, we are going to foot the bill.

“On the one hand, you tell us that the ETP will save Malaysia in 10 years, but on the other, you say the government has no money and the ETP would have to rely on the private sector.

“So I ask myself, if we, the private sector, are the ones who can save this country, and you, in the government, have no money to do so, then why do we need the BN?” he said.

Lip Eng jokingly added that Najib should be replaced by a bright-minded and highly-established CEO of a successful firm to run the country.

Later, other DAP leaders including Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun, Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai and Kepong MP Tan Seng Giaw also addressed the crowd.