KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — Klang MP Charles Santiago urged the government today to create equal opportunities for all after Pakatan Harapan (PH) lost the Semenyih by-election.
But the DAP lawmaker stressed that this should not be done at the expense of non-Malays.
“If we care to be honest, we will admit that the vast majority of the Malays remain poor,” Santiago said in a statement.
“It’s therefore the responsibility of the government to demonstrate its ability to create equal opportunities for everyone.
“But this cannot be done with mollycoddling the Malays or topping up on privileges for them. However tough it may seem, the government must work towards earning the trust of the Malays without compromising on the rest of its people.
“Or this will just end up as another Umno rule,” he added.
Santiago attributed PH’s loss in the Semenyih race, a Selangor state seat that the coalition previously won in the 14th general election, to Malays’ fear of losing power.
“The fear of losing out on their favourable position has cost us the votes. This is the sad reality and one that has been propagated by Umno during its six decades of rule,” he said.
He acknowledged that majority of Malays remained poor, as he accused the previous ruling party Umno of using pro-Bumiputera policies to enrich a small group of elites.
Immediately after the Semenyih poll, Economic Affairs Minister and PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali urged the government to “unapologetically” fulfil its pledges to the Malays and Bumiputera.
Sungai Pelek assemblyman Ronnie Liu from DAP however warned PH not to be more Malay-centric and “out-Umno Umno” or “out-PAS PAS”.
Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Zakaria Hanafi defeated PH candidate Muhammad Aiman Zainali with a majority of 1,914 votes in a race that PAS made way for BN.
