Speech by Lim Kit Siang at the DAP Canning Family Day and Foodfair at Red Crescent Hall, Ipoh on Sunday, 26^th September 2010 at 9 am: 

Pakatan Rakyat must be prepared for snap 13th general elections to be held in six months

The Mentri Besar of the usurper Barisan Nasional Perak state government, Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir has called on Barisan Nasional component parties to be prepared for snap polls and Barisan Nasional component parties are openly calling on their members to be ready for early general elections next year.

DAP and Pakatan Rakyat must be prepared for snap 13th general elections to be held in six months.

In his 18 months as Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has launched three major initiatives – 1Malaysia policy; the New Economic Model and on Tuesday, the RM1.4 trillion Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) to achieve a high-income economy by 2020.

However, all these three Najib landmark measures have failed to take-off successfully as illustrated by the lukewarm response of the RM1.4 trillion ETP in the Kuala Lumpur stock market.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI), which closed at 1,469 points on Monday, lifted by 6.30 points to 1,475.99 points on Tuesday when the RM1.4 trillion ETP was unveiled, but by the end of the trading week on Friday, KLCI had fallen by 24.80 points to 1,451.19 points.

There is just too little public confidence in the ETP after the two Najib initiatives were undermined and attacked.

Najib’s 1Malaysia policy, for instance, has still to be proven to be a national policy which attracts the full commitment and loyalty of the Prime Minister’s own Cabinet and Government – with Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin publicly declaring that he is “Malay first, Malaysian second” while there is only one Cabinet Minister, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz the only Minister in the past 18 months who is prepared to declare that he is Malaysian first, Malay second, i.e. Malaysian first, race second.

Najib’s New Economic Model unveiled on March 30 was savagely attacked to the extent that Najib had to distance himself by claiming that the NEM is not the Government’s “final stand” but merely the “trial balloons” of a group of experts from the global market’s perspective!

And in both cases, the troop of nay-sayers was led by none other than the former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad – who said he did not understand Najib’s 1Malaysia and warned of awful consequences if the NEM was implemented.

Most recently, Mahathir had racheted up his rhetoric of race and religion, even warning that the Malays will lose power if Pakatan Rakyat were to come to power.

This is the height of irresponsibility coming from one who had been Prime Minister for 22 years and propounded the concept of Bangsa Malaysia with Vision 2020.

If Pakatan Rakyat comes to power, it is not the Malays who will lose power but the Umnoputras while the ordinary Malaysians - Malays, Chinese, Indians,Kadazans and Ibans - will be empowered.

Mahathir is conducting a most unethical and dishonest campaign to demonise Mohamad Nizar because he was a popular Perak Mentri Besar of the year-old Pakatan Rakyat Perak State Government before it was illegally, unconstitutionally and undemocratically toppled by Najib.

Mahathir accused Nizar as tool of DAP and even claimed that Nizar’s PR government was regarded as a Chinese government by the Malaysian Chinese.

This is completely baseless and groundless as nobody regards the Pakatan Rakyat Perak State Government of Nizar as a Chinese government – it was a Malaysian government and regarded as such by all races in the state.

The way Mahathir is demonising Nizar was the same way he had demonised the first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman more than 40 years ago, for which Mahathir had to subsequently apologise to Tunku.

As former Prime Minister, Mahathir should stop his irresponsible politicking of race and religion.

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