Day: May 8, 2013

By Ida Lim
The Malaysian Insider
May 08, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 — DAP today denied the allegations in an Utusan Malaysia article today, with the party’s advisor Lim Kit Siang saying that it was a self-admission by the Umno-linked paper that it had committed sedition.

“It is an admission that Utusan has committed seditious, incendiary and inflammatory articles and they justify by saying that ‘siapa dulu memulakan provokasi’ (who started the provocation).”

“We deny completely that we had anything to do with the various allegations made in this defence…we did not provoke them. We had nothing to do with all the things reported in this article,” Lim said at a press conference at the party’s headquarters here, referring to a piece titled “Siapa mula provokasi dahulu?” (Who started the provocation first?) by the Malay-language paper’s columnist Zulkifli Bakar. Continue reading “Kit Siang denies ‘Utusan’ article, says it proves paper’s seditious act”

BY CLARA CHOOI
The Malaysian Insider
May 08, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today demanded a stop to all attempts at racialising last Sunday’s polls by blaming a particular community for Barisan Nasional’s (BN) poor showing at the ballot boxes.

“This is unfair and unhelpful,” he said in a statement here.

The former prime minister, who stepped down in favour of Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 2009 after he led BN to lose its coveted two-thirds parliamentary majority in Election 2008, agreed that following Sunday’s polls results, there was a pressing need for the country to undergo the process of national reconciliation and unity.

He also called on the opposition to accept and respect the election results, despite the fact that they had lost by slim majorities amid claims of fraud and widespread irregularities in the polling process.

“Malaysians deserve stability and certainty that can only come with finality and closure from this election,” he said in his message to the opposition.

“Let us move on in the interest of all Malaysians.” Continue reading “‘Stop blaming one community for BN’s bad performance’”

By Ida Lim
The Malaysian Insider
May 08, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — DAP’s Lim Kit Siang today said he accepted last Sunday’s polls result where Barisan Nasional (BN) won the contest to be the federal government, saying he was only questioning 30 federal seats which could affect the coalition’s legitimacy.

“By and large, I accept the elections result, but 30 seats – the electoral fraud, electoral abuse, electoral irregularities – if these are proved, then they have to be corrected.

“And if they are corrected and Najib loses these 30 seats, he doesn’t have majority to be prime minister,” the DAP advisor said at a press conference at the party’s headquarter. Continue reading “Kit Siang accepts polls results, but questions 30 seats affecting BN’s legitimacy”

Ram Anand
Malaysiakini
May 8, 2013

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang has warned Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak not to “play with fire” by making “race-baiting” statements targeted at the Chinese after the Sunday polls.

Kit Siang said that Najib is risking a repeat of the racial tension that emanated prior to the 1987 Operasi Lalang.

Although Kit Siang did not elaborate on the matter, in 1987 there had been an allegation, which Najib had denied, about waving a keris and a pledge to “bathe it with Chinese blood” plus a combination of other factors that caused racial tension with the Chinese community.

“Najib must ask himself, does he want to be a prime minister for all Malaysians?” Kit Siang asked.

Kit Siang said that whilst Najib might be making those statements to appease the Umno grassroots, the latter mustn’t lose sight of the 1Malaysia concept that he had espoused four years ago. Continue reading “Don’t repeat the 1987 ‘fire’, Kit Siang tells Najib”