KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 31 — Malaysians must have the stamina, perseverance and commitment to work for a New Malaysia and reset nation-building policies and undo the doings of the previous Barisan Nasional administration, says veteren DAP lawmaker Lim Kit Siang.

In his Merdeka message, Lim said the New Malaysia would be a top world-class nation of unity, freedom, justice, excellence and integrity.

“[It would] be an example of the success of ‘Alliance of Civilisations’ instead of a failure because of a ‘Clash of Civilisations’ — a national mission which will take more than a general election cycle to accomplish.

“Malaysians must develop a social media literacy, as in a matter of two months, through a massive and orchestrated campaign of fake news and hate speech, Malaysians have been entrapped in a vicious position where every community lives in fear, doubt, suspicion and even hatred of other communities and religions, believing that its rights, ethnicity, religion and culture are facing an existential threat,” he said in a statement today.

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The Iskandar Puteri MP said many Malays were made to believe they are facing an existential threat, but he said the same is being faced by the Chinese and Indian races as well.

Lim said such an issue should not have occurred and had questioned who were the ones creating the threats to the communities, ethnicities and cultures in the country.

“The Malays are made to believe that they had lost political power and their rights, ethnicity, religion and culture are facing an existential threat.

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“But it is not only the Malays who fear that they are facing an existential threat as the Chinese Malaysians and Indian Malaysians also fear that their rights, ethnicity and culture also face an existential threat,” he said.

However, Lim said there was a silver lining following Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s statement yesterday which called for the boycott of non-bumiputera and non-Muslim products in the past two months to be stopped.

“The failure of the boycott campaign is one proof that the social media does not represent the larger Malaysian whole.

“Let us celebrate the 62nd Merdeka Day today and the 56th Malaysia Day on September 16 consciously that we are in the thick of the battle for the soul of Malaysia — to bridge Malaysia’s divides to build a common future for all Malaysians or for each ethnicity to return to its respective enclave in the false belief that it is facing an existential threat and in denial of a Malaysian dream,” he said.