SERDANG: The unity government today vehemently condemned the statement made by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who recently questioned the loyalty of the Malaysian Indians and Chinese communities to the country.
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim described the remarks made by Dr Mahathir during an interview with Chennai-based Indian satellite television channel as irresponsible for a political figure, who had twice served as the country's prime minister.
The prime minister also believed that Dr Mahathir made the remarks to deviate the attention of the people from ongoing efforts by the present administration to eradicate corruption.
"His statement is irrelevant.
"It is irresponsible for Dr Mahathir to make such a remark especially coming from a former prime minister, who have served the country for quite a long time," he told reporters after launching the Artificial Intelligence Untuk Rakyat programme here today.
Anwar added that it was not acceptable for Dr Mahathir to humiliate any people irrespective if they represent the majority or the minority of the population in the country.
"He is known to issue such a statement…to him, all Malays are lazy, except for himself. And Malaysian Indians and Chinese are disloyal unless if they are his cronies.
"Perhaps this is an attempt to divert the attention of the people on the government's efforts to eradicate corruption and uphold good governance in the country," he said.
In the wake of the statement made by Dr Mahathir, Anwar also called on Malaysians to strengthen unity and respect each other.
"Let us work together and work for a common goal," he said.
Earlier in his speech at the event, Anwar called upon the people especially the younger generation to reject leaders with outdated views that will only destroy the country.
"There are former leaders who are trying to cover their wrongdoings by insulting the people, calling the Malays lazy and even claiming that the Chinese and Indians are not loyal to the country.
"This is 'lapok' (old fashioned) thinking that will only ruin the country."
Anwar went on and said: "I hope the people especially the younger generation do not entertain leaders with this damaged-kind of thinking.
"Let us focus on elevating the dignity of the nation," he said.
During an interview with Thanthi TV recently, Dr Mahathir believed that Malaysian Indians and Chinese are not completely loyal to the country as they still want to identify themselves with their respective countries of origin.
"There are people who consider themselves (as) Indians or Chinese. They do not speak the local language at all," Dr Mahathir was quoted as saying.