DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang has challenged BN chief Najib Abdul Razak to open Umno and other BN parties to Malaysians of all races if the premier is to live up to his claims.

He said this at a press conference today, in response to Najib’s pledge yesterday to serve as a prime minister of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, state, or political views.

NONE Lim noted Najib ( right ) said this despite attributing BN’s worst electoral performance to a ‘ Chinese tsunami ’ and defended Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia ’s race-baiting headlines .

He said Najib should embrace the “politics of the future” in order to deliver on his pledge, which amongst others include putting an end to race-based politics.

“To do that, I call on him to be brave enough for Umno to open its doors so that it would not be a race-based party, (but) is open to all Malaysians. That also goes for all parties in BN,” he said.

Not a new idea

The idea of a racially-inclusive Umno is not new, Lim said.

NONE Umno's founding president Onn Jaffar had mooted the idea and to rechristen Umno (United Malays National Organisation) as ‘United Malayans National Organisation' in 1951, but was unfortunately "too ahead of his time."

"I think 56 years of Malaysia since independence in 1957 is long enough for Umno to begin to act as a Malaysian party and not continue to be a practioner of race-based politics.

"If that is the case, it would give meaning to his 1Malaysia polity. Otherwise his 1Malaysia policy would be completely meaningless," he said.