MP SPEAKS I dedicate a question for Malaysians to ponder while commemorating the 53rd Malaysia Day (which is tomorrow): is Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s 1Malaysia policy dead or alive?

If it is still alive, why are Umno leaders spearheading a national campaign of hate and lies by drumming up racial and religious politics, the latest example being the Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who alleged that Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s new political party is a proxy for DAP to divide the Malay community - just like PKR and Parti Amanah Negara?

DAP shared the same platform as the first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman and veteran Umno leader, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, when the latter led Parti Semangat 46 in the 1990 general election, to bring about electoral and institutional changes in the country.

Were Tunku and Tengku Razaleigh (photo) traitors of the Malay community, or pioneers of Malaysian nationalism and patriotism?

Are Najib's and Umno’s survival justification enough to abandon the 1Malaysia policy to promote racial and religious hatred and animosities based on lies and falsehoods?

If Najib’s 1Malaysia policy is to create a nation where every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first and race, religion or region second, why are Umno and BN acting so recklessly and irresponsibly as to betray the fundamental principles of the Merdeka Constitution 1957 and Malaysia Agreement 1963 that Malaysia is a secular nation with Islam as the official religion - undermining not only racial and religious harmony, but threatening the very basis of the Malaysian nation which resulted in the formation of the federation in 1963?

Will the BN supreme council reaffirm and reiterate a policy stand that, until and unless there is unanimous agreement of all the BN component parties, including those from Sarawak and Sabah, the BN government will not support any bill in Parliament, whether official or from a private member, which undermines the very cornerstone of the formation of Malaysia - such as a hudud-enabling bill as was attempted in the May meeting of Parliament?

The commemoration of Malaysia Day will be meaningless if the question as to what has happened to the Report of the Royal Commission Inquiry on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah (RCIIIS) is not raised, as this is also central to the question as to whether Najib’s 1Malaysia policy is dead or alive.

The RCIIIS was established in February 2012, and although initially given 18 months to complete its findings, it submitted its report to the federal government more than two years later, in May 2014, but the RCIIIS Report was only made public more than six months later, in December 2014.

Since then, the RCIIIS Report seems to have been completely forgotten by Putrajaya, as if thrown into the wastepaper chute, despite the formation of a high-sounding RCIIIS Report working committee under the chairmanship of Sabah Deputy Chief Minister and PBS chairperson, Joseph Pairin Kitingan, to look into the RCIIIS findings and compile recommendations.

Will the prime minister render a full account in Parliament next month as to what Putrajaya proposes to do with the RCIIIS Report with regard to the “illegal immigrant nightmare” that has haunted the people and state of Sabah for over two generations?

International image

A Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Joseph Kurup, today advised Malaysians not to engage in activities that are detrimental to the harmony of the country and which aim to damage the international image of the country, such as illegal assemblies.

Joseph is clearly referring to Bersih 5, which was announced by the organisers yesterday that it will be held in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 19.

The rally is not intended to damage, but to save the international image of the country.

There is nothing that any Malaysian, or group of Malaysians, can do more to damage the international image of Malaysia than two things: firstly, involvement in an international money-laundering conspiracy resulting in Malaysia gaining world infamy as an overnight global kleptocracy; and secondly, accepting such international infamy as a global kleptocracy with indifference and nonchalance, as if it is the commonest thing in the world – as is the case with the Malaysian cabinet.

It is most shocking that Joseph Kurup seems quite happy and content to be a minister of a global kleptocracy.

If not, what does Joseph propose to do, so that Malaysia can undo such grave damage to its international image?

LIM KIT SIANG is DAP parliamentary leader and MP for Gelang Patah.