Lim Kit Siang

Information Department Director-General Ibrahim Abdul Rahman should be sacked as an example that civil servants should not play the irresponsible game of their UMNO political masters to spread lies to incite race and religious sentiments and hatred

The Information Department Director-General Datuk Ibrahim Abdul Rahman should be sacked as an example that civil servants should not play the irresponsible game of their UMNO political masters to spread lies to incite race and religious sentiments and hatred to try to perpetuate UMNO hold on power in Putrajaya.

In his FaceBook yesterday, Ibrahim shared a faked message which I was supposed to have made at a press conference at the DAP headquarters with DAP Acting Chairman Tan Kok Wai (MP for Cheras) and the DAP National Organising Secretary Anthony Loke (MP for Seremban), all donning the Bersih 4 T-shirts, declaring “Ini peluang kami untuk menumbang PEMIMPIN MELAYU DI BUMI MALAYSIA”.

This is a total lie as I never said or intended any such nonsense, as can be testified by the press corps who attended the DAP press conference on Bersih 4 rally on Wednesday, 26th August 2015.

Even more serious, the despicable lies and evil motives are being spread by a civil servant holding one of the strategic positions in the country, the Director-General of the Information Department, who should know better and have the basic common sense and intelligence to know that he was disseminating downright falsehoods, unless he was part of the scam to spread lies and falsehoods to incite race and religious sentiments and hatred.

Can Ibrahim Abdul Rahman explain why he had disseminated what were clearly downright falsehoods, which were not only an anti-national and anti-Malaysia, but violate the very “work ethics” he wants from everyone in the Information Department, viz: with the trust and empowerment placed upon him with the position and authority as Information Department director-general, his personal pledge to perform his duties and responsibilities to the best of his ability, sincerely, efficiently, courteously and ethically to discipline himself and act in ways that encourage good practices and prevent any deviation, abuse of power and corruption.

Ibrahim Abdul Rahman has dishonoured Harvard University where he studied “Leadership” and graduated in 2006 and he had also proven to be utterly unfit to be a professional Director-General of Information Department.

Ibrahim’s irresponsible dissemination of lies and falsehoods on the social media to incite racial and religious hatred in the country does not appear to be an isolated incident, but is probably par tof the latest edition of the P.R. campaign by Najib’s minders to try to strike fear among Malays and Muslims to distort the true purpose of the Bersih 4 rally to “Save Malaysia” from becoming a rogue and failed state.

Ibrahim and others are abusing the social media to spread the false message that the agenda of Bersih 4 was for the Chinese to grab Malay political power and to hate the Malays – with the DAP pictured as an anti-Malay political party!

This may be the reason why Najib’s loyalists have suddenly focussed their attacks on the DAP, as happened on Sunday when the Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi told the Sri Gading UMNO Division the tall story that the Arabs donated RM2.6 billion to the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to fight off “Jewish-backed” DAP because DAP was a threat to Islam in the country – a fairy tale even ordinary UMNO members do not believe!

It may also be the reason why the Prime Minister himself entered the fray to incite Malay fears and insecurities when he told Perlis UMNO on Sunday that Malays and Muslims would be ‘bastardised’ if Umno no longer ruled the country.

The response of the former Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA) President, UMNO Secretary-General and Cabinet Minister Tan Sri Sanusi Junid, apart from expressing shock that Najib had resorted to the word ‘bangsat’ (bastard) to describe the state of Malays if UMNO loses, was to point out that the Malays are not “bangsat” but that the word should apply to the Umno leader who led Malays to the current state.

Sanusi said: “Now there is the threat that Malays may become ‘bangsat’ if Umno loses, so the person responsible for this is the reason why Malays will become ‘bangsat’.

Sanusi pointed out that the notion that Umno would lose or become ‘bangsat’ never happened under the leadership of Tunku Abdul Rahman, Razak, Hussein Onn and Dr Mahathir.

Sanusi likened the usage of the word ‘bangsat’ similar to a low level Langkawi Wanita Umno member who used the word ‘kencing’ (lied to, or literally pissed on) against Najib.

Umno activist and blogger Shahbudin Husin caustically pointed out that there are no “bangsat” Malays in opposition-ruled states like Selangor, Penang and Kelantan.

He blogged: “Moreover, a lot of Malays (in these three states) are happier, have a better appetite and laugh more compared to those living in states controlled by Umno.

“They don’t look like Malays who are ‘bangsat’ or marginalised.”

Shahbudin said it is Umno which has “bastardised” the Malays more compared to other parties.

He asked: “Through the power they possess, who actually betrayed land, shares, permits and so forth which were supposed to strengthen Malay economy but were diverted for personal interests or sold to other races?”

Shahbudin said it is Najib who brought about the ‘bastardisation’ of the Malays and that the country and Umno can be healed if he is no longer the head.

“It is not Umno losing power which determines whether the Malays are ‘bastardised’ or otherwise, but the type of leaders,” he said.

Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, gender, age or party politics should not allow irresponsible political and government leaders, whether Abdul Aziz, Ibrahim Abdul Rahman or even Prime Minister Najib to racialize the Bersih 4 rally tomorrow, for it is a rendezvous with history for all Malaysians regardless of race or religion to demonstrate the deep-seated and united aspiration of Malaysians for national unity, political and economic reform and the restoration of the independence, impartiality, professionalism and integrity of all the key national institutions in the country.

Bersih 4 is the coming out celebration for all Malaysians who want to put aside their differences arising from race, religion, gender, age and political opinion, to unite on a common cause to “Save Malaysia” from becoming a rogue and failed state.

Let us all be Malaysians and not be Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans or Kadazans; nor Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs or Taoists; but just as Malaysians who come to the Federal capital from all parts of the country in peace and solidarity with the common mission to seek peaceful and constitutional change in the political and economic destiny of our nation!