The former premier accuses the opposition party of spreading its racist disease to Sarawak, and warns that the nation is under threat of being divided.
KUALA LUMPUR: Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad has accused DAP, which won 12 of the 15 seats it contested in Sarawak, of spreading its racist disease to the state.
In a blog posting, the 84-year-old statesman said Saturday’s state election results clearly showed that the Chinese in Sarawak rejected multi-racialism.
“I congratulate DAP for bringing its racist politics to Sarawak. Before this, all races cooperated well with each other for the good of Sarawak.
“Perhaps SUPP is at fault but others in BN also committed many wrong things. But the rejection is almost entirely by the Chinese community,” he added.
According to the medical doctor-turned-politician, the community had now become “infected by the virus of Chinese racism”, which he added, was DAP’s guiding principle.
He also noted that in the past, DAP was almost totally rejected in Sarawak.
“DAP will talk about Malaysian Malaysia i.e. Malaysia for all Malaysians. But its appeal has always been to the racialist sentiments of the Chinese. Those Chinese who reject DAP seem to be considered as non-Chinese by DAP,” he added.
Threat of division
Mahathir, who held office for 22 years until 2003, warned that Malaysia was now faced with the threat of being divided by two parties – one Malay dominated by default, and the other Chinese by choice.
“This will not be good for Malaysia. But this is what DAP is striving for. A two-party system based on race will not contribute to stability much less national unity,” he said.
He also mocked the presence of several Malays in DAP as mere window dressing and likened it to Singapore’s PAP government, which had “sidelined its Malay supporters completely.”
Mahathir, whose disdain for PAP and its senior leader Lee Kuan Yew was well-known, said that the Malays made up 15% of the island state’s population but their share of political power and wealth was about 1%.
“Of course Singapore is ruled by Singaporeans. The same will happen in Malaysia should DAP rule this country. It will be ostensibly Malaysian,” he said, adding, “I will be called a racist for pointing this out.”
For more than half a century, Mahathir reminisced, the races in Malaysia had worked together to build the nation.
“The world saw stable BN governments with power and wealth being shared by all races quite fairly. None of the races got everything that they considered they were entitled to – not the Malays, nor the Chinese, Indians, Ibans, Kadazans etc. All had to give up something. That is the essence of sharing.
“Now DAP has destroyed this power and wealth-sharing formula by separating the Chinese from the rest,” he said.
Voters must be cautious
Mahathir also hoped that the pattern in Sarawak would not be replicated in the next general election, and urged voters to be cautious.
“Let us all think carefully whether we want to split up this country or we are prepared to sacrifice something of our own in order to maintain the stability and growth through the BN coalition,” he said.
On the same note, Mahathir congratulated Sarawak Chief Minister and state BN chief Taib Mahmud for emerging victorious in the state polls.
He also congratulated Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin, saying the pair had worked hard during the whole campaign period.
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