KUALA LUMPUR: The opposition political alliance between Umno and Pas will only sow the seeds of ethnic division, while promoting hatred among the people.
Johor DAP chairman Liew Chin Tong said it was because of this that the people needed to vote wisely in the Tanjung Piai by-election.
“As it is the first by-election since the official formation of the Muafakat Nasional — coalition of former political foes Umno and Pas — in September, the battle of Tanjung Piai is of national consequence.
“It will determine our not-too-distant future.
“A win for Barisan Nasional (BN), represented by MCA on behalf of the Umno-Pas alliance, will embolden the opposition coalition’s racial attack on the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government,” he said during a speech in Pekan Nanas today.
He said the opposition had resorted to racial extremism, and it intended to break up the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government through ethnic division.
He said the opposition’s objective was to return Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to power.
“Both are facing multiple corruption charges in courts.
“If power is given back to them, there is zero hope for reform.
“The opposition is not interested to play the role of check and balance. Umno merely wants power, now.”
He said Zahid had also expressed his intention to oust the PH-led state government in Perak.
“In Zahid’s mind and in Umno and Pas’s playbook, it is all about sowing the seeds of divide and to reaping the fruits of hatred.
“The aim is for Najib and Zahid to make a comeback without having to account for their past crimes that they and their associates committed during BN era.”
Liew said PH survived a month-long campaign led by Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to set up a “backdoor government” without DAP and Parti Amanah Negara.
He said the campaign caused heightened Malay and non-Malay anxieties with various attempts to wrongly accuse DAP of being a terrorist and communist sympathiser.
The people involved in the campaign had also urged for DAP to be deregistered and called for the party’s departure from PH.
Liew said the people behind the campaign continued to be relentless in discrediting PH leaders.
“The Malay audience is told that the government is controlled and dominated by Lim Guan Eng and DAP.
“The non-Malay ground is told by MCA and associates that DAP is voiceless and dominated by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu).
“Let me reiterate that both allegations are wrong, unfair and would be detrimental to our multi-ethnic society. “Pakatan Harapan is a coalition government negotiating decisions in collegial manner through Cabinet and the Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council.”
However, he admitted that PH was not perfect, but he believed the coalition deserved to serve its full five-year mandate to implement ideas without being dislodged mid-term by plots and conspiracies based on racial mobilisation.
He said a vote for MCA during the Tanjung Piai by-election on Nov 16 would only encourage Umno and Pas to cause further chaos.
“If BN wins, they will take it that voters approve their racial attempt to dislodge the legitimate PH government half-way into its term.
“I shudder to think when a coalition of parties with corrupt leaders and no clear reform agenda but merely race politics will be in power, again,” he said.