PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Ismail said today that Umno no longer represents the aspirations of the people and is resorting to racism to keep Malay loyalty.
But, she said, Umno’s racial politics is irrelevant in the era of new politics.
“After March 2008, Umno realised the multi-racial party model which we bring is wanted by the public. Umno has rejected the importance of a multi-racial party for nearly a decade and said that it was would not be accepted by the people especially the Malay community.
“However, they themselves have lost touch and are separated from the real aspirations of the Malays because they are preoccupied with the riches from fraud. The 2008 general election has sent a clear signal that the political future of this country is multi-racial political parties,” she said in her policy speech at PKR's sixth congress here.
She said Umno’s failure to address Malay issues has forced it to attack PKR.
“After March 2008, the party’s (Umno) attack is focused to destroy our credibility with Malay voters. They falsely accuse us as being anti-Malay and many other allegations to tarnish our name in the eyes of the Malay community,” she said.
She added that future of the country is a multi-racial Malaysia.
“The future of Malaysia is multi-racialism which builds on the unique strengths of each race, so do not be shy to convince the rakyat that we are the party of the future!
Dr Wan Azizah making her address at the party’s 6th national congress in Kota Baru today, May 29, 2010. — Picture by Jack Ooi
“Umno’s racial polarisation is dangerous to the country. Malaysia urgently needs a political movement to value the contribution and involvement of all races.
“Unfortunately, Umno’s answer to this new political culture is to make seditious and racist sentiments to continue to divide the people and increase racial polarisation. In fact, the concept of 1 Malaysia or concept related to it is hypocrisy,” she said.
Dr Wan Azizah said Umno was using the New Economic Policy (NEP) to instil fear in the Malay community.
“Umno is telling the people that we are allegedly willing to forfeit the interests of the Malays when we said that the NEP should be abolished.
“We are confident that NEP has failed to achieve its objectives because many of the implementations have deviated from the policy and spirit of the NEP. NEP is just used by Umno to conceal their corruption,” she said.
She said Umno wants the NEP because it will force the Malays to be loyal to the government.
“The Malays and the Bumiputeras have long been deceived by Umno. They want the Malays to rely solely on the government alone because Umno is aware that when the Malays begin to believe in their capabilities then they will no longer require the support of Umno politicians,” she said.
She also stressed that PKR must not take March 2008 for granted and should strive to strengthen its support from the Malay community.
“The Malay electorate is concerned due to incitement and propaganda from the mainstream media. We need to explain issue per issue. In my opinion, the party is very clear on the position of the Malays and the Bumiputeras while our common platform with Pakatan Rakyat openly upholds the special position of the Malays and Bumiputeras as enshrined in the federal Constitution,” she said.
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