Ram Anand
Malaysiakini
May 8, 2013

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang has warned Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak not to “play with fire” by making “race-baiting” statements targeted at the Chinese after the Sunday polls.

Kit Siang said that Najib is risking a repeat of the racial tension that emanated prior to the 1987 Operasi Lalang.

Although Kit Siang did not elaborate on the matter, in 1987 there had been an allegation, which Najib had denied, about waving a keris and a pledge to “bathe it with Chinese blood” plus a combination of other factors that caused racial tension with the Chinese community.

“Najib must ask himself, does he want to be a prime minister for all Malaysians?” Kit Siang asked.

Kit Siang said that whilst Najib might be making those statements to appease the Umno grassroots, the latter mustn’t lose sight of the 1Malaysia concept that he had espoused four years ago.

Kit Siang said that an Utusan Malaysia editorial today titled ‘Siapa dulu mulakan provokasi’ (who started the provocation) is tantamount to an admission by the paper that it had committed sedition.

In the editorial, Utusan blamed DAP for starting the provocation of racial tension via its election campaign.

The editorial was a response to DAP’s criticism of Utusan’s inflammatory front page report ‘Apa lagi Cina mahu?’ (What more do the Chinese want) yesterday.

“By publishing this, they are indirectly admitting that they have committed sedition,” Kit Siang said.

Kit Siang also urged all BN leaders, including the like of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former Malacca chief minister Ali Rustam, who had repeated Najib’s views of a “Chinese tsunami”, to criticise the Utusan Malaysia headline yesterday ‘Apa lagi Cina Mahu?’ just like their Umno colleague Saifuddin Abdullah.

Saifuddin, who lost the Temerloh parliamentary seat to PAS’ Nasrudin Hassan, said that he would not blame his defeat on any particular race.

Kit Siang said that contrary to Najib’s allegations, DAP had never given the impression that votes from the Chinese community alone can unseat BN from federal power.