Dr M wrong about 2013 vote, says Kit Siang
DAP veteran ticks off Mahathir’s racial view, slams BN for not protecting Petaling Street traders
(Free Malaysia Today) – The DAP’s Lim Kit Siang has criticised former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad for taking a racial view of the results of the 2013 general election and taken Barisan Nasional leaders to task for failing to defend petty traders in Petaling Street against racial threats.
Taking issue with Dr Mahathir’s view that Malaysian Chinese would place racial interests before party interests, Lim said that Malaysian Chinese voters had taken national interest as their primary consideration.
They had voted not merely for the DAP but also for other Pakatan Rakyat candidates, including those from Keadilan and PAS, and had elected Malay MPs from Pakatan Rakyat parties, rejecting Chinese candidates from the MCA.
Dr Mahathir, at a forum yesterday, had urged Malays to emulate Malaysian Chinese in making their case against the prime minister, Najib Razak. Dr Mahathir had said the Chinese community transcended party lines when their communal interests were under threat.
However, Lim said Mahathir was mistaken in his interpretation of the election results, and lamented that the number of Malaysians who placed nationhood over race seemed to be almost an extinct species, “with more and more becoming just Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans and Dayaks, even ethnic champions, instead of becoming Malaysians”.
