KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 — Malaysians must endorse the fundamental value of freedom if they desire to see the country achieve first-world status, lawmaker Lim Guan Eng said today in a warning against the creep of “politics of hate” into the public sphere.
The Penang chief minister said while there should not be absolute freedom, it is a vital ingredient in the success of western nations which was being viewed with suspicion as an “alien value” by some religious extremists, though he did not name anyone.
“Malaysians should reject extremists who preach hate, intolerance and violence.
“Instead we must respect the rights and dignity of our Malaysian brothers and sisters who share the same aspirations of justice, democracy and economic prosperity and suffer the same problems of corruption, abuse of power and discrimination,” he said in a statement marking Ponggal, the Tamil harvest festival.
The DAP lawmaker, who sits on the federal opposition bench, said politics should rightfully be inclusive and collaborative but took a swipe at rivals from the Barisan Nasional (BN), accusing the 13-party coalition ruling the country of endangering Malaysia’s future.
“BN and Umno are losing the future by focusing on appealing to our primordial fears and hate that dehumanises minorities.
“This politics of hate is intended to avoid real problems,” the Bagan MP said, listing as examples the questionable decade-long outflow of funds till 2013 which he claimed to amount to RM1.3 trillion, as well as Malaysia’s RM8534.3 billion household debt said to be the highest in Asia by the World Bank.
He urged Malaysians to free themselves from fear and to take action to set the country back on the path of progress.
“Malaysians must punish bad behaviour and reward good behaviour.
“Do we want a society where extremism in the defence of race is no vice, but moderation in the defence of justice no virtue?” he asked.
