Umno information chief Ahmad Maslan's comment that it is “inappropriate” for Umno to be a single party for all Malaysians proves that Umno is committed to dividing Malaysians by race to maintain its hold on power, the DAP says.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng noted that “Umno's refusal to be a single party that is inclusive or multiracial - but instead insists on clinging to a single racist entity - spells the death sentence on Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s 1Malaysia”.

NONE "For the past 50 years, BN, Umno, MCA and MIC have divided Malaysians by race to justify their excesses and abuses of power, especially corruption, crony capitalism and depriving or limiting the fundamental human rights," the Penang chief minister said in a statement today.

                                        

Lim was responding to Ahmad's ( left ) comment , as reported by Bernama yesterday, that the proposal to turn BN into a single party is "inappropriate and difficult" to implement, as it is unable to represent the interests of all races in the country.

Last Friday, Najib said Umno would be setting up a special laboratory to study the proposal in detail, and that the party also had to gather feedback from its members before making a decision on the matter.

Lim said despite BN’s loss in the popular vote in the 13th general election, Umno has refused to heed the people’s rejection of racial politics.

In the May 5 election, BN lost the popular vote for the first time in Malaysian history, with 47 percent compared with Pakatan's 52 percent.

'People, not cronies, must come first'

Lim said Umno's "racist message" would not overcome the corruption and abuse of power.

He stressed that this meant Malaysians of all races have given a loud and clear message in the last general election that they want to be “Malaysians first”.

lim guan eng “This is where people - not cronies - must come first, where good principles and policies matter more than hatred and fear," Lim ( left ) said.

He also noted that Umno continued to cling on to Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s "divisive and destructive ‘Malay first, Malaysian second’ extremist ideology".

"Being ‘Malaysian first’ does not mean we lose our Malay, Chinese, Dayak, Kadazan or Indian identity, but that we give our paramount loyalty to our country as embodied in our national anthem, Negaraku ," Lim said.

 

He added that since Umno is the dominant party, its refusal to open up to all Malaysians means that there will be no single party for BN that will be inclusive to all, regardless of race.

"Clearly, Najib’s ‘1Malaysia’ slogan is empty of all meaning except as a propaganda exercise for general elections, and to be discarded when BN has won the most number of parliamentary seats despite losing the popular vote."