DAP pledges if Pakatan Harapan and Bersatu succeed in forming next Federal Government in Putrajaya, FELDA would not be closed down but will instead be strengthened so that FELDA settlers can get a new deal of justice and prosperity
We are gathered at the ceramah tonight to show our full support and solidarity with a champion of Felda and Felda settlers, Mazlan Aliman, who has become a victim of grave injustice and oppression in his life-long fight for the rights, interests and future of Felda settlers and future Felda generations.
Recently, the politics of race, hatred and lies have intensified to reach a new crescendo in Malaysian politics and all this polarisation is led by none other than the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, himself.
In his UMNO Presidential Speech on Nov 30 last year, Najib continued his ignoble campaign to demonise the DAP, telling three Nazi-type Big Lies, that
- That the 14th General Elections will be a contest between UMNO and DAP;
- That the DAP is anti-Malay or anti-Islam;
- The “nightmares” Malay will suffer if UMNO loses power in the next general elections.
Najib went to the extent of warning that “if the country falls into the hands of DAP”, the rights and privileges championed and defended by UMNO through institutions such as FELDA, MARA, RISDA and FELCRA would become “extinct and disappear”.
Just now, Husam Musa in his speech referred to the UMNO lies and specifically asked whether DAP would shut down FELDA if Pakatan Harapan and Bersatu throw out UMNO/BN coalition from Putrajaya in the 14th General Elections.
In response to Husam, let me declare on behalf of DAP that if UMNO/Barisan Nasional coalition is booted out of Putrajaya in the 14 GE and replaced by a government formed by Pakatan Harapan and Bersatu, DAP will not want FELDA to be closed but on the contrary, we want a special programme to strengthen FELDA so that Felda settlers and the new generation in Felda can get a new deal of justice and prosperity in Malaysia.
Malaysia is now flooded with a sea of scandals – Felda, Tabong Haji, MARA and many others and of course, the mother of all scandals in Malaysia, the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal.
Najib has “achieved” what all his five predecessors, Tunku Abdul Rahman, his father Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah have not been able to do – to turn Malaysia into a “global kleptocracy” and the infamy and ignominy attached to such an appellation!
I explained the meaning of “kleptocracy” in Parliament last November, that it is a country which is governed by 3Ps – Pencuri, Perompak and Penyamun.
As a result, Malaysians going overseas are ashamed when asked which country they come from.
I do not believe that any decent and self-respecting Malaysian, regardless of race, religion, region, gender or age, want to be a citizen of a kleptocracy, let alone a “global kleptocracy”.
This should be the great battle in the 14GE.
The next General Elections is not a battle between DAP and UMNO, but between the people of Malaysia vs. Najib to save Malaysia from kleptocracy and to hold true to the promise of the founders of the nation that Malaysia shall forever be a democracy.