GEORGE TOWN, Feb 7 — Umno is stoking racial and religious discontent, hastening brain-drain from the country, said Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
In his Jade Emperor Festival message today, Lim said Penang will wield the weapons of social justice, economic prosperity, good governance and clean leadership to counter the negative developments.
“The toxic atmosphere of playing with racial and religious hatred has paralysed the pursuit of happiness and accelerated the exodus of human talent,” he said.
He cited recent events that including violent demonstrations by Umno supporters, an attack against a senior civil servant who was carrying out enforcement action and the attack on a Catholic Church.
“These are clearly intended to distract attention from Umno’s price hikes even at the cost of destroying the very foundations of a nation-state so assiduously built by Umno founders Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Abdul Razak,” he said.
He cited official government statistics which had revealed that more than two million highly-skilled and talented Malaysians have left the country since independence in 1957.
He told Malaysians not to lose hope but to compel Umno to back down from playing religious and racial games, focussing instead on the economy.
He called on Malaysians to fight corruption and demand good management and productivity skills from political leaders.
