by Lim Guan Eng

UMNO’s refusal to be a single party that is inclusive or multi-racial but instead insist on clinging to a single racist entity spells the death sentence on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s 1Malaysia.

For UMNO Information chief and Deputy Minister Ahmad Maslan to say that it is impossible for UMNO to be a single party for all Malaysians proves that UMNO is committed to dividing Malaysians by race to maintain their hold on power.

For the past 50 years BN, UMNO, MCA and MIC have divided Malaysians by race to justify their excesses and abuses of power, especially corruption, crony capitalism and depriving or limiting the fundamental human rights.

Despite BN’s loss in the 2013 general elections, when BN lost the popular vote for the first time in Malaysian history with 47% compared to PR’s 53% of the popular vote, UMNO have refused to heed the people’s rejection of racial politics. 

PR winning over the Malays

PR won the urban Malay vote and the Malay youth vote by a clear majority. Nationally PR won around 43% of the Malay vote. UMNO’s racist message can not overcome the corruption and abuse of power.

This means that Malaysians of all races have given a loud and clear message in the last general elections that they want to be “Malaysians first”, where people not cronies must come first, where good principles and policies matters more than hatred and fear.

Instead UMNO continues to cling on to Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyidin Yasin’s divisive and destructive “Malay first, Malaysian second” extremist ideology.

Being Malaysian first does not mean we lose our Malay, Chinese, Dayak, Kadazan or Indian identity but that we give our paramount loyalty to our country as embodied in our national anthem “Negaraku”.

As UMNO is the dominant party, UMNO’s refusal to open up to all Malaysians means that there will be no single party for BN that is inclusive to all regardless of race.

Clearly, Najib’s 1Malaysia slogan is empty of all meaning except as a propaganda exercise for the general elections to be discarded when BN have won the most number of parliamentary seats despite losing the popular vote. – The Rocket