Stay away from Gagasan 3 group of frustrated opportunists, says DAP’s Sheikh Umar

JOHOR BARU, Nov 23 — A Johor DAP leader has urged Malaysians to reject the recently formed coalition Gagasan 3 (G3), describing them as a group of frustrated opportunists out to inflame racial sentiments.

Sheikh Umar Bagharib Ali, who is the state publicity secretary, said as a democratic nation that respects the rule of law, there is freedom of association but this cannot happen with an agenda to incite racial hatred as in the case of G3.

“I consider the group as a group made up of people who are frustrated and opportunistic who use racial politics and they incite society with accusations that are over board,” he said in a statement today.

G3, which claims to have 53 non-governmental organisations as its members, was formed with the sole intention of “declaring war” on Pakatan Harapan (PH) member DAP, claiming the latter is the dominant voice in Putrajaya.

The coalition is headed by Raggie Jessy, a blogger known for his controversial Third Force blog. His deputy is Amran Ahmad Nor, reportedly a disgruntled former DAP publicity unit employee.

Commenting on G3’s ‘war’ against DAP, Sheikh Umar said the group had portrayed the party as being an enemy of Islam and Malays.

“What is the evidence of DAP threatening Malays, Islam, the constitution and the royal institutions?” he asked.

He said G3 was trying to use the United Nation’s International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) to incite hatred against DAP, claiming that the party was the main force behind its proposed ratification by the government.

He stressed that DAP upheld the Federal Constitution, including its provisions involving Malays, Bumiputeras, Muslims and Malay rulers.

“There is no question about this,” he said.

Sheikh Umar added the group does not bring any development and reform nor does it empower the people, but instead dares to establish themselves as a political movement.

“In this regard, I call on all mature Malaysians to jointly reject G3 which do not want to see the country safe and harmonious,” said Sheikh Umar.