I fully support the 10th Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim’s policy of zero tolerance for racial and religious incitement to create and prolong political instability and putting security forces on alert for possible unrest.
Malaysia needs a reset to return to the original nation-building principles the nation’s founding fathers have written in the Constitution and the Rukun Negara — to unite Malaysia’s plural society to restore our national goal to be a first-rate world-class nation with world-class political, economic, educational, and social systems so as to fulfil Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman’s aspiration to be “a beacon of light in a difficult and distracted world”, and to demonstrate to the world Malaysia’s “Unity in Diversity”.
Certain political leaders have defied the 16th Yang di Pertuan Agong’s advice during the opening of the 15th Parliament on political stability and predicted the imminent collapse of the Anwar unity government.
Strong measures must be taken to ensure that there should not be another Sheraton Move political conspiracy or unconstitutional suspension of Parliament and that a vote of confidence in Parliament is the only measure in Malaysia’s system of parliamentary democracy to change a federal government.
As the Anwar unity government had overwhelmingly passed a vote of confidence in Parliament only in December last year, there must be no room for undemocratic and unconstitutional plotters to subvert parliamentary democracy.
It is a matter of grave concern to patriotic Malaysians that the divisive and toxic politics of lies, falsehood, and fake news to polarise race and religious relations had increased after the 15th General Election on Nov. 19, 2022 — with the hurling of wild and preposterous allegations without any substantiation whatsoever, like the preposterous allegation that DAP is anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty, communist, promoting Islamophobia, and the equally preposterous claim of low 60 per cent Malay voter turnout as compared to 98 per cent non-Malay voter turnout.
What is even more shocking is the completely senseless statement that the Malays in Malaysia are losing political power.
If Malaysia is to reset and return to the original nation-building principles written by the nation’s founding fathers in the Constitution and the Rukun Negara, we cannot allow untrammelled incitement along race and religious lines.
(Media Statement by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Friday,17th March 2023)
