KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 ― Senator Liew Chin Tong today advised his DAP party colleagues and Pakatan Harapan (PH) allies to withhold their verbal sniping at each other and focus instead on moving their reform agenda forward.
Despite defeating their long-time political adversary in GE14, Liew noted the four component parties of the ruling coalition have been consumed by infighting with the latest trigger being the intake of former Umno leaders into Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.
“Instead of hurling insults, we should persevere with our aim of building a Malaysia Baharu where every citizen will share the benefit of a peaceful, equitable and more prosperous nation,” Liew, dubbed the DAP’s strategist since Election 2013, reminded his teammates and PH supporters in a statement.
He pointed out that the PH coalition had together achieved a near miracle by ending the six-decade rule of the Umno-led coalition that have prompted a recent exodus of its leaders and lawmakers from the Malay nationalist party founded in 1946.
“The disintegration of Umno in its current form is actually a great achievement for Malaysian democracy.
“Since Umno is no longer fighting its original cause of 1946, it is better for a new platform to exist for the benefit of all Malaysians including the Malays,” Liew said.
Liew noted that Umno had become more fractious, with at least two loose groupings led by Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and Khairy Jamaluddin who reject the leadership of its former president Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his chosen successor, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
“Could there be a group of Umno leaders who would leave their party to form a new multiethnic party? If it happens, what would Pakatan do? If it doesn’t happen, how will Pakatan handle the situation?” he asked.
The deputy defence minister urged fellow PH members to be patient and more supportive of each other during this period of political, economic and social upheaval, which he called the Umno aftershock, as it transitioned into a more progressive, democratic and united nation where everyone would have an equal chance at achieving prosperity.
“We are in the first ever transition ― political, economic and social ― of our nation’s history. The collapse of the former authoritarian regime could not be an easy exercise,” he added.
