Many BN leaders have forgotten the politics of reconciliation espoused by former prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein and are instead pursuing "punitive politics", laments Gerakan acting president Chang Ko Youn.

Gerakan, Chang pointed out, joined Umno and other parties in the Alliance in 1974 to form the National Front or Barisan Nasional, in order reduce politicking and ensure success in nation-building.

gerakan egm 261013 chang ko youn 2 "What hurts many of us is that the Razak spirit of 1974 has been forgotten by many leaders within the BN...

"Despite the model of conciliation espoused by BN all these years, which is one of the reasons why Malaysians of all ethnic groups continued to support us right up to the 12th general election, BN is now viewed as a ‘with us or against us' coalition.

"This is detrimental to national unity and harmony," Chang said, and he went on to warn that calls to punish those who voted against BN would only further disenfranchise 51 percent of Malaysians who voted against the ruling coalition.

"BN and its component parties must not thrive in the fault lines of politics. Rather, they must show humility in victory and accept that a new way is needed within BN as well," he said in his speech this morning.

Chang was addressing some 1640 delegates at the Gerakan national delegates conference (NDC) in his policy speech.

Asked to elaborate at a press conference later, Chang pointed out that when BN lost Malay support in 1999, the coalition spent the following years trying to win back the support.

In addition, he said, there was give-and-take among the BN component parties when BN was formed.

However, after a landslide victory in the 2004 general election, power “got into the heads” of some BN leaders.

“Each of them tried to show, 'I am more powerful than you; I am more stronger than you', and this started off all kinds of show of force that backfired on the BN.

“So we are coming back to the idea that BN must be reinvented, reorganised, and become a body to talk about all these issues,” Chang said.

Ban on use of 'Allah' an example

He cited the ban on the use of the word ‘Allah’ in the Christian publication The Herald as an example, saying that BN component parties should have held talks on the issue years ago to come up with a common stance.

“Instead, now we can see Umno has come up with one position, Gerakan one position, MCA one position. To us, this is not helpful in the development of BN,” he said.

In his speech earlier, Chang also called on BN to fight communalism and extremism, such as that seen in pressure groups like Perkasa.

“We owe it to our founding fathers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun VT Sambanthan to return to the Merdeka spirit of give and take.

“If we do not do so, then their vision of a diverse nation at peace with itself and the world will diminish and what we will be left with is discord and unhappiness,” he warned.

gerakan egm 261013 najib BN chairperson Najib Abdul Razak, who was present, appeared to respond to this positively.

“BN will maintain itself as a moderate, progressive, centrist, inclusive and fair government, and reject communal politics, extremist, and others that will destroy what has been built by BN and the nation’s founders.

“I as a prime minister and BN chairperson will maintain this course and this line in the party and in the government,” Najib said in his speech after Chang's address, while acknowledging that there was still room for improvement.

Chang lauded Najib’s speech at his press conference, at which he was asked why Najib had not spoken out against Perkasa.

“Criticising, I am not sure. But certainly from our dealings with Najib and meetings in BN, they (Umno) definitely don’t share their (Perkasa) views,” he replied.

Chang also said there were Perkasa-like groups representing the other ethnic groups, but he refused to name them.