KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 — The attempt to frame the Kajang by-election as a measure of Chinese support for Barisan Nasional (BN) was irresponsible, given the racially-charged atmosphere in Malaysia, DAP’s Lim Kit Siang said in admonition today.
Expressing concern over former Cabinet minister Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin’s resurrection of the so-called “Chinese Tsunami” months after a fractious general election, the veteran lawmaker said the “racist” suggestion was ill-timed given the ongoing efforts at national reconciliation.
“It is most deplorable that while the prime minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had used his 2013 New Year’s Message to try to clarify his unfortunate and inappropriate term of ‘Chinese Tsunami’ on the night of the 13GE, which was downright racist, against his 1 Malaysia signature policy and contrary to his talk of ‘national reconciliation’, Zainuddin wants to resurrect the spectre of ‘Chinese Tsunami’ to racialise politics in Malaysia,” the Gelang Patah MP said today.
Lim pointed out that the blame apportioned to the Chinese community following Election 2013 has been repeatedly invalidated by analyses showing a larger shift along urban-rural lines that involved Malaysians of all races.
He also noted that in Selangor, the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact was able to secure 59 per cent of the popular vote, further illustrating that voters had not chosen along racial lines.
Saying that while it may be reasonable for Zainuddin to want voters to swing back to BN in the coming Kajang poll, Lim questioned the logic in wanting to use voter support as a measure of communal loyalty.
“It is sad that after 56 years of nationhood, a former Cabinet minister and former editor of a leading newspaper is still so steeped in communal thinking that it is very clear that he is completely bereft of any notion of Malaysian identity as espoused by Najib’s 1 Malaysia policy,” Lim added.
The DAP advisor also took the opportunity to press Putrajaya to respond to overtures from PR for bilateral talks to address fears of rising communal friction in the country, following the prime minister’s positive response earlier this week.
Yesterday, the former information minister and once chief editor of Utusan Malaysia wrote on his blog that the Kajang by-election was a “golden opportunity” for the Chinese community to regain the trust of the Malays that was “broken” by the so-called “Chinese Tsunami” of Election 2013.
He further added that the new MCA leadership could use the election to show that their appointments were in line with the Chinese community’s wishes.
The term “Chinese Tsunami” was coined in the aftermath of a divisive Election 2013 that saw BN register the worst electoral showing of its history despite retaining power over the government.
In a surprise move on Monday, PKR’s Lee Chin Cheh resigned as Kajang assemblyman without giving a reason, paving the way for Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to contest the by-election.
The move came not long after media speculation that a state by-election would be triggered to pave the way for Anwar to become a member of the Selangor assembly and qualify to replace Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim as MB.
While popular with the general public, Khalid’s penchant for unilateral decision-making in administering the country’s wealthiest state is understood to be a source of dissatisfaction among PR leaders in the state.
