Abdul Rahim Sabri | Dec 1, 2011 Malaysiakini
Defending an earlier speech which accused DAP of being anti-Malay and anti-Islam, Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin denied it was racist and hit back at his critics, describing them as being “100 times more racist”.
According to the deputy prime minister, what he had said was not something different from the historical facts, and instead it could “consolidate the new awareness” among the Malays about the party’s struggle.
“Only someone who is too racist (would think it is racist). When some quarters say something about their own race, he will say it is racist.
“They don’t realise that they are 100 times more racist than us,” he told the media, without mentioning any names, during a press conference today at the Umno annual general meeting (AGM).
During his opening address for the AGMs of Umno Wanita, Youth and Puteri on Tuesday, Muhyiddin accused DAP as an anti-Islam and anti-Malay party which attempted to turn Malaysia into a republic.
He called on members of the three wings to join the party’s struggle which is a jihad for the religion, race and country.
The next day, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang hit back, saying that Muhyiddin’s speech was the “mother of all lies, falsehoods and racism”.
During the press conference today, Muhyiddin echoed party president Najib Abdul Razak’s policy speech, in which the prime minister said Umno was not a racist party as it has been sharing power with other BN component parties.
“Although there was a time in history that Umno could form the government by itself in the first general election, we did not do so. We shared power.”
On the contrary, Najib had said, the opposition has shown no proof that its coalition parties can work together.