If we follow the actions and thinking of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his
supporters, then we must rectify the “errors’ of the past, even if it
means violating established principles of the Constitution, laws and
good governance.
According to them, bringing in more Muslims into Sabah in the 1990s and
making them citizens was not a cynical move to help the ruling coalition
win elections (although that was the immediate benefit), but to correct
the mistakes of history. Simply put, the country needed to have more
Muslims – even if they were foreigners from the Philippines, Pakistan or
Indonesia – because Tunku Abdul Rahman “gave away” citizenship to the
Chinese and Indians as part of the Merdeka agreement. Dr M somehow
blames the Tunku for making citizenship “easier” for non-Malays, which
he believes justifies his call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into
Tunku’s decision 60 years ago.
His ranting could be ignored if it weren’t for the fact that it’s
dangerous. Dr M destroyed UMNO when it did his bidding and we must not
allow him to destroy the country too. To advocate reviewing all past
policies and disowning our former leaders’ great sacrifices is highly
irresponsible. The country’s design and constitutional make-up is not
like the latest Proton model for him to change at whim. Our heritage and
history are ours, not his. He has lost all sense of proportion in
trying to gain traction for his wayward political views to change the
outcome of the General Election.
Dr M was a member of the Alliance, which agreed to adopt the principle
of “jus soli” in granting citizenship to non-Malays. It was a social
contract that the Malay Rulers agreed to, and which the rakyat also
supported, as evidenced by the Alliance’s overwhelming victories in the
1955 and 1959 elections. Yet Dr M has no compunction ridiculing our
pioneering leaders’ great effort to forge a nation. He is bent on making
race a divisive issue in this General Election and he will destroy this
country if his views are not accepted.
So let’s make this General Election a referendum on the man himself. If
we reject him, as we must, then we can only do so by rejecting the
Barisan Nasional. The eunuchs in the BN are all scared of him. I urge
Malaysians to show their revulsion for this man and his ideas by
rejecting the BN once and for all. We cannot solve today’s problems by
harping on the past. We have to live with the
past, and not find excuses when we are unable to govern well now. We
solve problems by working together, by adopting peaceful means and by
having big-hearted leaders like the Tunku. The revisionists of our
history have to be put in their proper places.
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