A PKR stalwart in Kedah has described Prime Minister Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia slogan as the ‘biggest hoax’ in the nation’s history.

He challenged Najib to call for the 13th general election to gauge whether Malaysians were indeed behind the 1Malaysia concept, considering the recent political developments in the country.

State PKR committee member Gooi Hsiao Leung said Najib has  displayed a lack of ability in reining in the likes of Umno-owned Malay-language daily Utusan Malaysia, which recently called for a 1Melayu 1Bumi movement.

NONE The movement was mooted by Utusan columnist Zaini Hassan as a means of uniting Malays following what he described as the ability of the DAP to unite the Chinese, as evident in the community’s support for the party in the recent Sarawak election.

Gooi, who is Kedah PKR legal bureau chief, described Utusan ’s latest call as an act of “spewing racist venom”, adding it was a “direct challenge” to Najib’s 1Malaysia concept.

Gooi said Najib’s unwillingness to take a firm stand against Utusan   has encouraged his “I am a Malay first” deputy Muhyiddin Yassin and Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to brazenly defend the newspaper’s racist stance.

Ahmad Zahid, an Umno vice-president, had once irresponsibly accused the Chinese of having a low spirit of patriotism, he pointed out.

In response to MCA’s call to boycott the newspaper, Muhyiddin and Ahmad Zahid had recently backed the newspaper as the voice and champion of the Malays.

“It is a wonder that MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek and his party can endure such racist posturing from Umno,” Gooi said.

“...especially after having recently warned the Chinese community it may lose representation in the government should the Chinese reject MCA in the forthcoming general election,” he added.

Gooi recalled that Umno had insulted MCA yet again when de facto Law Minister Nazri Aziz recently referred to the party as a wife who complains endlessly of being abused by her husband but refuses to get a divorce.

“Najib needs to educate his boys that the various races, including the Malays, who voted for Pakatan Rakyat in the last general election and in Sarawak, are not anti-Malay or traitors in any sense. Neither are they any less patriotic as citizens,” he said.

“They rejected BN after 52 years of power because of its arrogance, rampant corruption and abuse of power,” he added.

‘Millions spent to market Najib’s vision’

Gooi also said that since the BN’s worst electoral performance in 2008, millions have been spent to market and sell Najib’s grand vision.

The vision, he added, was supposed to convince Malaysians that the diversity of our peoples was what made our country unique and that 1Malaysia’s goal was to preserve and enhance this unity in diversity.

However, after the 2008 political tsunami, former Gerakan president and adviser Dr Lim Keng Yaik and MCA’s ex-president Ong Ka Ting had complained that Umno was a bully in BN, Gooi said.

“I challenge Najib to call for a general election now... let the people decide now if Malaysians buy Najib’s call for 1Malaysia or reject it as the biggest BN hoax in our nation’s history,” he added.