52nd National Day Message by Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Sunday, 30^th August 2009: 

Let all patriotic Malaysians regardless of party come together to save Najib�s 1Malaysia from heading for the rocks 150 days after becoming Prime Minister

Recent events, particularly in the past few weeks, cannot but raise the concern and even alarm of Malaysians who want to see the evolution of a Bangsa Malaysia after half a century of nationhood � as Malaysia is only just a decade from the Vision 2020 deadline of achieving a Bangsa Malaysia out of the diverse races, languages, cultures and religions in the country to become a fully developed nation in 2020.

Of late, there is not only a recrudescence of the irresponsible politics of race and religion, the exploitation of the race and religion cards have reached new intensity utterly reckless of their damage to the multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-cultural fabric of Malaysian society.

As a result, there is a further polarization of race and religion with the hardening of intolerant attitudes and stances, creating situations unseen or unheard of in the previous history of the nation � like the cowhead sacrilege in Shah Alam on Friday where a group protesting against the construction of a Hindu temple threatened bloodshed and committed the ultimate act of religious insensitivity, insult and profanity to Hindus by severing the head of a cow and stomping on it.

Let all patriotic Malaysians of goodwill recognize the danger signals to our plural society. Let all patriotic Malaysians regardless of party come together to save Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak�s 1Malaysia motto from heading for the rocks 150 days after becoming Prime Minister to stave off divisive and centripetal forces from further dividing and polarizing Malaysians along race and religious lines.

After five months, Najib�s 1Malaysia had failed to inspire Malaysians as an all-encompassing inclusive policy to unite Malaysians � best illustrated by the fact that Pakatan Rakyat whether at parliamentary, state government or state assembly levels are completely excluded from the formulation of a 1Malaysia policy so that it could be embraced by all Malaysians as a policy to unite rather than to divide the people.

This is the most important food for thought for all patriotic Malaysians of goodwill on the occasion of the 52nd National Day.

Already many Malaysians are asking what is there to celebrate on this National Day with the backdrop of a national polity which is not prepared to rise to the challenges and aspirations for change so unmistakably expressed in the messages of the political tsunami of the March 8 general elections last year.

Can Najib�s 1Malaysia symbolize a reaffirmation of a national resolve and commitment to build a Bangsa Malaysia where all Malaysians regard themselves as Malaysians first and their race and religious identities in second place or will it go down in history as representing the very opposite?

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary leader & MP for Ipoh Timor