Non-Malay parties didn’t divide the nation, you did, Ti tells Dr M

September 7, 2023

Non-Malay parties didn’t divide the nation, you did, Ti tells Dr M

PETALING JAYA: An MCA leader has hit out at former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for reportedly claiming that non-Malay political parties were partly to blame for race issues in the country.

MCA vice-president Ti Lian Ker claimed that Mahathir had not only divided Malaysians along ethnic lines during his 22-year rule as the prime minister, but also split the Malays along conservative and liberal lines.

Ti said “liberal Malays” used to be the pride of Malaysia, with the country seen globally as a progressive and open-minded Muslim nation.

“Now, they are looked upon with distrust and disgust as they do not have Islamic credentials and are mostly Western-trained technocrats. Today, ‘Malay liberals’ are frowned upon as if being open-minded and a progressive thinker is a sin.

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“This big divide among the Malays is the cause of the divisive society that we have today. This is Mahathir’s systematic breaking down of the foundation of Malaysia in the name of ‘nationalism’ and, subsequently, ‘Islamisation’.

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“In fact, Mahathir was just using race and religion as baits to perpetuate his authoritarian rule,” the senator said in a statement.

On Monday, Mahathir reportedly called parties led by non-Malays as “parti pendatang”, adding that non-Malays were unwilling to assimilate with Malay culture but instead created their own parties.

“This is why there are still racial issues in this country. It is not that we do not like them, but they are the ones who do not like us,” he was quoted as saying.

Ti reminded Mahathir that the collaborative efforts of both Malay and non-Malay political parties were what led to the nation’s independence and Malaysia’s formation.

He also said non-Malay political parties were formed because Umno was restricted to the Malays.

“Although Onn Jaafar, the late founder of Umno, wanted to (open up Umno to non-Malays), his intention was met with protests and he had to resign from his party,” he said.