New Straits Times

Party won’t tolerate disrespect for Malay rights, Islam and Malay rulers

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno will not hesitate to end any form of cooperatio­n with political parties that fail to respect the rights of the Malays, the position of Islam, the sovereignt­y of the Malay rulers, the status of Bahasa Malaysia and the prosperity of its Barisan Nasional partners.

President Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, in his policy speech at the Umno General Assembly, said this also applied to political parties that worked together with Umno to form the unity government.

“We will never accept any cooperatio­n with any party that fails to respect these conditions. We will not hesitate to make a political decision to end any form of cooperatio­n (with these parties).

“Let me repeat this. We will not hesitate (to make the political decision) if any party in the unity government destroys our trust (over these conditions).”

He added that Umno’s stand on these conditions had never changed even during the formation of BN about 50 years ago.

“This was what we told Gerakan and myPPP, which were at the time demanding equal rights (for all people) in the country. We set the same condition to DAP two years ago (after the 15th General Election, or GE15).”

Zahid said the special position of the Malays was also why Umno had never planned to ratify the Internatio­nal Convention on the Eliminatio­n of All Forms of Racial Discrimina­tion (ICERD) during its administra­tion before GE14.

In a jab at political rival Bersatu, he said Umno had never attempted to undermine the position and rights of the Malays by pushing for ratificati­on of the ICERD during its administra­tion.

He also described Bersatu as a “turtle party” that hid its head and was willing to sell out its principles when in power, as it was a Bersatu leader who had wanted ICERD to be ratified.

Speaking to reporters later, Zahid said the decision not to go solo in elections was to avoid overlappin­g of seats with other parties in the unity government.

The deputy prime minister said, however, that Barisan Nasional would continue using its dacing (scale) symbol when contesting in any elections.

“This is also what we will do in the Mahkota by-election, so all sides respect and allow the party that previously held the seat to contest it again.

“So, that is what I mean by not going solo, we need to work together and use our own symbol,” said the BN chairman.

In his policy speech earlier, Zahid had hinted that Umno might not go it alone in the next GE.

He said Umno members alone could not secure the party’s victory and said the decisive factor would be non-members, who make up a larger percentage and number.