1 September 2000 - 01.00
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Mahathir stirs up racial sentiments in his Independence Day speech
The Alternative Front, the opposition coalition comprising of the
Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), the National Justice Party (keADILan),
the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and the Malaysian Peoples' Party (PRM),
has condemned Malaysian prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, for stiring racial
sentiments in his Independence Day address.
According to Rustam Sani, Chairman of the Alternative Front's Bureau for
Media and Information, "After various attempts to frighten the people with
the spectre of racial politics - and to present various Barisan Nasional
parties as the 'protector' of the rights and dominance of their individual
racial constituencies - failed to get the desired reaction of the people,
Mahathir appears to have resorted to using ! the official independence day
address to 'salvage' the propagandistic device."
In his speech delivered before the entire nation on the eve of Independence
Day, Mahathir condemned everyone from "foreign powers", "extremist Chinese"
to "ungrateful Malays". Mahathir also admitted that his regime had lost the
support of the Malays.
Mahathir then lashed out at Suqiu, a group of Chinese organisations. He
classified them as "communists who are out to destroy the country." He also
accused the Chinese-language print media for being responsible for creating
what he described "a tense ethnic relations atmosphere" in the country.
In an official statement last night, the Alternative Front expressed regret
that Mahathir's accusations were "not in tune with the reality and is
totally unsuitable for inclusion in an official Independence Day speech. It
is totally inappropriate that an official Independence Day address should
contain serious accusati! ons against certain quarters that do not deserve
them."
"In reality, it was not Suqiu - but another political movement at the behest
of a mainstream Malay language daily - that has created racial tension by
organising a street demonstration that was rude, unruly and threatening,"
added Rustam Sani.
On August 19, UMNO youth's deputy leader, Abdul Aziz Shaikh Fadzir, an
Indian Muslim businessman, led an unruly and abusive group of UMNO youth
members in front of the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall building in Kuala
Lumpur. Witnesses said "inflammatory and racist placards" were displayed,
reporters abused and assaulted and threats uttered to "burn down the
Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall". They were demanding that Suqiu "apologise"
for "questioning Malay rights," an allegation refuted by Suqiu.
Rustam reminded that the Chinese press in the country, althought not a truly
free press, has nevertheless achieved journalistic fairness to "a lev! el far
superior to the Malay and English language mainstream media which is nothing
more than pliable propaganda tools of the Barisan Nasional."
Raja Petra Kamarudin
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