Tsu Koon: All BN Members Should Be Equal

Gerakan President Dr Koh Tsu Koon said that despite BN member parties hold different political power, they should have equal right to speak in terms of ideology and policies. And the BN leading and biggest political party should listen to and consider the feelings of all races instead of inclined to the monoculture policy.

He admitted in an exclusive interview with Sin Chew Daily that Umno or the BN government has been ruling the country in the past 50 year with a race-based concept. It began since the era of Tunku Abdul Rahman when Singapore was still part of Malaysia and Lee Kuan Yew had a dispute with Tunku on this issue.

However, the monoculture policy has slightly improved in 1980s and today, the policy has been generally recognised.

He hoped that Umno will continue be more open, fair and reasonable in ruling the multi-racial and multi-religious country. Meanwhile, BN should back to its spirit when the coalition was first established that all member parties share a common ideology and work together.

When being asked about the role played by Gerakan in this issue, Dr Koh said Gerakan can only play a supporting role. If the party takes an extreme action, it will lead to an internal rebound from Umno and it may give extremists a chance.

"For example, during the penumpang dispute, we should not allow those extremists or racists to take the opportunity to pretend a hero. Although such remarks should be strongly condemned, we have to put a stop to it. Otherwise, it would enhance their racists and hero images", said Dr Koh.

He also pointed out that many civil servants are still looking at problems based on racial basis. Thus, the people, particularly non-Malays are having deep feelings on many issues.

Dr Koh believed that the two-line system has been taking shape after the 8 March general elections. Therefore, both BN and Pakatan Rakyat should focus on governing the country instead of attacking each other. This is to avoid the people lose confidence to the two-line system.

"We should have a healthy two-line system. Pakatan Rakyat already has five state regimes. They should focus on economy, social order and the people's livelihood. Similarly, BN should also concentrate on the federal administration," he said.

He stressed that most importantly, both the ruling and opposition coalitions in the two-line system should involve multi-racial and religious participations, instead of one of the coalition involves only a single race as it will hinder the democratic process.

However, he said it is a pity that many incidents happened in the past half year. Particularly, the change of regime rumour has cast a shadow over the country's development, affected many areas and caused all distracted from managing the country.

"The question about whether the federal regime should be changed depends on the people's overall assessment in the next general elections. It should be decided through votes rather than by party switching as it is unhealthy," said Dr Koh.

Asked about Gerakan's role switching in Penang, Dr Koh admitted that although Gerakan was an opposition party at the start but it had played the ruling party role for 39 years. It would not be easy to switch its role and time is required for adjustment and re-integration.

"It is the same for DAP as it had played the opposition role for over 40 years. After gaining the Penang regime, it still keeps its opposition mentality and attacks the federal government and the former state government. It is not adjustable in a short period of time," he added. (Sin Chew Daily)

MySinchew
2008.10.07