KUALA LUMPUR: The PPP will pull out of the Barisan Nasional if the Internal Security Act is not amended before the next elections, party president datuk M.Kayveas said.
“I have to follow what the youth and wanita divisions have proposed to PPP and they want the ISA to be abolished.
“As a responsible party I told them ‘let’s go halfway’ and ask for the amendments of the act so that it does not become a draconian law imposed on innocent citizens,” he said while opening the youth and wanita party elections.
If the Barisan, he added, was seriously thinking of rebranding, then it should amend the ISA.
“The Barisan has to make changes before the next general elections. It is suicidal if we do not plan the next general elections.
“The problem with the Barisan was its success in the past 50 years. Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”
“The March elections has already shown what the voters are looking for in good governance and multi-racialism.
“The Barisan has conducted numerous post mortems at all levels to gather input on what went wrong and why the voters rejected Barisan.
“The solution has always been multi-racialism but to date Barisan is still caught in its own political racial configuration – that what is being spoken is not being implemented fast enough.”
PPP’s Wanita leader Josephine Anne said that it would too late to speak of multi-racialism by the time the next election takes place.
“The Barisan has to act now and fast track development programmes for all races and must show our sincerity and start now by uniting the parties in the Barisan.
“The Barisan must work towards a common society to regain the confidence of the Rakyat, and not just offer lip service and continue to use the racial card to promote and project the different races for one’s own political standing.
“In this age and time we cannot continue to pit one race against the other and talk about unity,” she added.
PPP’s youth leader T. Murugiah said that theparty did not support the use of the ISA against the ordinary citizens of Malaysia.
“The ISA was designed to handle a terrorist threat and should be used only for that purpose.”
M. KRISHNAMOORTHY
Star Online
30/11/08
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