Why Ibrahim Ali did not find me objectionable as anti-Malay and anti-Islam when he sought my help in the seventies to escape detention under ISA as a student leader?

It is amusing and comical that Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali claims that he suffered sleepless nights after the DAP declared that it is not anti-Malay or anti-Islam.

He claimed to be shocked by the statement and said he could not sleep for 50 hours.

Clearly, Ibrahim Ali was still talking when sleep-walking.

Can Ibrahim explain why he did not find me objectionable as being allegedly anti-Malay and anti-Islam when he frantically sought my help as Parliamentary Opposition Leader when he was trying to escape detention under the Internal Security Act for his activities as a student leader in the seventies?

I had raised this issue once publicly some five years ago, and Ibrahim Ali did not dare to challenge the veracity of my statement.

This show the quality of leadership of the Perkasa chief.

I thank Parti Amanah Negara Perak Vice Chairman, Sdr. Mohd Zainuddin Mohd Yusof, former Perak State Exco member and former Perak State Assemblyman for Lubok Merbau, who was Malacca Road Transport Department director in the eighties and nineties, for relating what happened in Malacca some three decades ago.

He rightly pointed out that there has not been another case of a political leader who was prepared to pay the supreme sacrifice of losing his Parliamentary position, going to jail and be disenfranchised for five years, not able to stand for elective office or even to cast his vote for five years after his prison release, like the DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, who was jailed in Kajang Prison in 1998 in defending the honour and dignity of an underaged Malay girl.

I have been in politics for 50 years, but suddenly, I and other DAP leaders have been demonised as anti-Malay and anti-Islam.

Why were such lies and falsehoods not used in such massive scale against me in my 50 years of politics, until very lately – particularly after the 13th General Election in 2015.

The answer is very obvious.

The sudden escalation of the campaign of lies, fear and hatred to demonise DAP leaders as anti-Malay and anti-Islam stem from the fear of the the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and UMNO propagandists that Najib and UMNO can be defeated in the next general elections.

The escalation of the demonisation campaign against the DAP stems from the UMNO leadership’s fear of weakness and insecurity and not sense of strength and righteousness.

The 14GE is not a battle between the Malays and Chinese for political power as the Malays will never lose political power whether Najib and UMNO are defeated in the 14th General Election.

In fact, if Malaysia had a democratic system of “one-man, one vote, one value” and not one of the most undemocratic and gerrymandered systems in the world – where UMNO/BN could win 47% of the popular vote but win 60% of the parliamentary seats, allowing Najib to continue as the first minority Prime Minister in the country – the Prime Minister after May 5, 2013 general election would have been Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and not Najib Razak.

I have challenged Najib and the UMNO propagandists to explain how the Malays could lose political power in Malaysia or how the DAP could capture political power in Putrajaya, but there have only been thunderous silence from them.

A Pakatan Harapan Federal Government that is formed in Putrajaya after the 14GE if we succeed in defeating the UMNO/Barisan Nasional coalition can never be a Chinese government. It will also not be a Malay government to serve only the interests of the Malays, but a Malay-dominant Malaysian Government to serve the interests of all Malaysians.

A Pakatan Harapan Federal Government will be fully conscious that it will have to compete with UMNO and Barisan Nasional to have a better record in upholding the fundamental features of the Malaysian Constitution and look after the rights and interests of all Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans, Kadazans, Orang Asli and the question of Malays or any community losing political rights, or Malays and Islam under threat, will not arise.

This is because a Pakatan Harapan Federal government does not want to be a one-term government but be able to continue to get the mandate of the electorate in subsequent general elections to govern Malaysia – fully conscious that we have to prove that we are better in looking after the rights and interests of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region.

(Speech at the Pakatan Harapan “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana RM2.6 billion?” ceramah in Kamunting, Perak on Wednesday, 13th January 2016 at 9 am)