Who is the UMNO Youth leader, Khairy Jamaluddin trying to “rescue” in his naïve but self-serving statement accusing me of manipulating the May 13 remark by the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and sensationalising it into a threat – to save Muhyiddin or the MCA President, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and Gerakan President, Datuk Mah Siew Keong?
I do not want to waste time on Khairy’s fling with sophistry, claiming that the Deputy Prime Minister’s May 13 remark was not a threat but a reminder to Malaysians to safeguard national unity.
I would be the first to applaud Muhyiddin if he had spoken as Deputy Prime Minister of all Malaysians to all Malaysians on the imperative need to safeguard national unity in a multi-racial and multi-religious society so as to be a model of harmony and solidarity of a plural nation for the world, but this was not what he did.
Instead, Muhyiddin was warning of another May 13 riots if ethnic relations continue to worsen because Malays and Islam were under siege (which was not only biased but baseless), saying:
“As deputy prime minister, every night before I sleep, I think about how to manage the country. Someone sent me a text message (asking) what will happen to the Malays, why is Islam being insulted and other similar issues.
“These things are definitely happening and it is worrying. We must all return to the right path. Let religion as well as our culture and customs be our strength.”
Are the Malays and Islam in Malaysia under siege by non-Malays and non-Muslims in Malaysia resulting in the possibility of another May 13?
If it is not true that Malays and Islam are under siege by non-Malays and non-Muslims in Malaysia , why is the DPM of a multi-racial and multi-religious nation warning of a recurrence of May 13 because “these things are definitely happening and it is worrying”?
At least Cabinet Ministers are now admitting that national unity “are becoming more and more fragile today”, but if this is the real concern of Ministers, why have the Cabinet done nothing to halt the stoking and incitement of racial and religious hatred, tensions and conflict by a small group of extremists in the past year?
Will the Cabinet tomorrow end its “do-nothing” policy allowing national unity to become “more and more fragile today”, by giving top priority to the issue of how to ensure another May 13 cannot happen in Malaysia?
DAP and Pakatan Rakyat will not condone or tolerate any May 13 threat but we are prepared to fully co-operate with UMNO and BN to ensure there will not be another May 13 in Malaysia.