Utusan root of national disunity, says Kit Siang
By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 – Lim Kit Siang said today that “racist” Utusan Malaysia remains the greatest threat to Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1 Malaysia slogan.
The DAP veteran claimed that the Umno-owned newspaper had poisoned the public with what he called its rhetoric of hatred, distrust and national disunity.
“Utusan Malaysia’s daily staple of lies and falsehoods to stoke communal poison and hatred, sowing distrust and national disunity, is the greatest disservice to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1 Malaysia slogan and nation-building.
“Mingguan Malaysia today is again at its anti-national worst with its daily diet of lies and falsehoods to poison the political system and undermine the nation-building process when it made the completely wild and baseless charge in insinuating in its editorial that DAP is working towards the goal of making Malaysia a republic and the abolition of the system of Malay rulers,” he said in a statement.
In today’s Mingguan Malaysia, the Sunday edition of Utusan Malaysia, an editorial claimed that Malaysia would end up a republic if PKR and DAP’s rule of Selangor continues.
“The lesson to be learned from the Selangor crisis is that if PKR and DAP [continue to] rule, much damage will be done. What is certain is that Malaysia will be on the threshold of a republic,” according to the editorial written by Awang Selamat, a pseudonym used by the newspaper’s editors.
The editorial insinuated that Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, under orders from DAP, wished to trigger a constitutional crisis in the state as a “test case” before similar action was taken in Penang and the rest of the country.
The Umno mouthpiece also alleged that PKR and DAP were deliberately playing up the issue of the state secretary’s appointment to distract the public from weaknesses within PKR and Selangor.
It further claimed that PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had remained silent throughout the impasse so that the public would forget about his “moral issues” and ongoing sodomy trial.
In response, Lim said Awang Selamat’s allegations were lies aimed at dividing Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and the Selangor government.
“There is no need for me to reiterate the DAP’s public, decades-long stand on supporting the system of constitutional monarchy in Malaysia.
“What Awang Selamat had insinuated are downright lies and falsehoods scraping the very bottom of gutter journalism. In seven paragraphs of ‘Iktibar kemelut Selangor’, Awang Selamat had told more than seven lies in its multiple objective to disseminate communal hatred and ill-will, even attempting to sow discord among the Pakatan Rakyat parties of PKR, DAP and PAS in the Selangor coalition government,” he said.
Lim urged Najib to take action against Utusan which he said continues to discredit the administration’s 1 Malaysia message and said that the Cabinet could no longer remain idle to the poison propagated by the paper.
“Under Najib’s premiership and presidency of Umno, Utusan Malaysia has fully transformed from a newspaper into a “liespaper”, diametrically opposed to Najib’s objective of promoting an all-inclusive 1Malaysia media.
“If Najib and Umno leaders, as well as the leaders of the other Barisan Nasional component parties, whether MCA, Gerakan, MIC or the Sarawak and Sabah component parties, continue to close their eyes to the daily dosage of lies and falsehoods to carry out its nefarious objective of pumping communal poison, Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or socio-economic grouping, are entitled to know what credibility could Najib’s 1 Malaysia slogan command be it at home or abroad,” he said.
The Selangor state government opposes the appointment of Datuk Khusrin Munawi as the state secretary, arguing that the Public Service Commission (PSC) did not consult the mentri besar before announcing the appointment.
It has announced its intention to seek an amendment of the state constitution by the end of the month to nullify Khusrin’s appointment and to restore the state’s power in the selection of senior officers.
Despite the objection, members of the state administration led by Khalid attended the swearing-in ceremony before the Sultan but had vowed not to let Khusrin take his oath of secrecy to enable him to fulfill his duties as the state secretary.
Previously, former Perak mentri besar Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin had warned the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Selangor government that it risks losing Malay support over the state secretary dispute.
Nizar was accused of being a traitor after he disagreed with the Sultan of Perak who had refused to dissolve the state assembly following the defection of PR lawmakers, which resulted in the collapse of the state government in 2009.
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 – Lim Kit Siang said today that “racist” Utusan Malaysia remains the greatest threat to Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1 Malaysia slogan.
The DAP veteran claimed that the Umno-owned newspaper had poisoned the public with what he called its rhetoric of hatred, distrust and national disunity.
“Utusan Malaysia’s daily staple of lies and falsehoods to stoke communal poison and hatred, sowing distrust and national disunity, is the greatest disservice to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1 Malaysia slogan and nation-building.
“Mingguan Malaysia today is again at its anti-national worst with its daily diet of lies and falsehoods to poison the political system and undermine the nation-building process when it made the completely wild and baseless charge in insinuating in its editorial that DAP is working towards the goal of making Malaysia a republic and the abolition of the system of Malay rulers,” he said in a statement.
In today’s Mingguan Malaysia, the Sunday edition of Utusan Malaysia, an editorial claimed that Malaysia would end up a republic if PKR and DAP’s rule of Selangor continues.
“The lesson to be learned from the Selangor crisis is that if PKR and DAP [continue to] rule, much damage will be done. What is certain is that Malaysia will be on the threshold of a republic,” according to the editorial written by Awang Selamat, a pseudonym used by the newspaper’s editors.
The editorial insinuated that Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, under orders from DAP, wished to trigger a constitutional crisis in the state as a “test case” before similar action was taken in Penang and the rest of the country.
The Umno mouthpiece also alleged that PKR and DAP were deliberately playing up the issue of the state secretary’s appointment to distract the public from weaknesses within PKR and Selangor.
It further claimed that PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had remained silent throughout the impasse so that the public would forget about his “moral issues” and ongoing sodomy trial.
In response, Lim said Awang Selamat’s allegations were lies aimed at dividing Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and the Selangor government.
“There is no need for me to reiterate the DAP’s public, decades-long stand on supporting the system of constitutional monarchy in Malaysia.
“What Awang Selamat had insinuated are downright lies and falsehoods scraping the very bottom of gutter journalism. In seven paragraphs of ‘Iktibar kemelut Selangor’, Awang Selamat had told more than seven lies in its multiple objective to disseminate communal hatred and ill-will, even attempting to sow discord among the Pakatan Rakyat parties of PKR, DAP and PAS in the Selangor coalition government,” he said.
Lim urged Najib to take action against Utusan which he said continues to discredit the administration’s 1 Malaysia message and said that the Cabinet could no longer remain idle to the poison propagated by the paper.
“Under Najib’s premiership and presidency of Umno, Utusan Malaysia has fully transformed from a newspaper into a “liespaper”, diametrically opposed to Najib’s objective of promoting an all-inclusive 1Malaysia media.
“If Najib and Umno leaders, as well as the leaders of the other Barisan Nasional component parties, whether MCA, Gerakan, MIC or the Sarawak and Sabah component parties, continue to close their eyes to the daily dosage of lies and falsehoods to carry out its nefarious objective of pumping communal poison, Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or socio-economic grouping, are entitled to know what credibility could Najib’s 1 Malaysia slogan command be it at home or abroad,” he said.
The Selangor state government opposes the appointment of Datuk Khusrin Munawi as the state secretary, arguing that the Public Service Commission (PSC) did not consult the mentri besar before announcing the appointment.
It has announced its intention to seek an amendment of the state constitution by the end of the month to nullify Khusrin’s appointment and to restore the state’s power in the selection of senior officers.
Despite the objection, members of the state administration led by Khalid attended the swearing-in ceremony before the Sultan but had vowed not to let Khusrin take his oath of secrecy to enable him to fulfill his duties as the state secretary.
Previously, former Perak mentri besar Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin had warned the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Selangor government that it risks losing Malay support over the state secretary dispute.
Nizar was accused of being a traitor after he disagreed with the Sultan of Perak who had refused to dissolve the state assembly following the defection of PR lawmakers, which resulted in the collapse of the state government in 2009.
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