Media statement by Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Thursday, 12^th August 2010: 

Najib should give his personal attention to stamp out the unhealthy and disturbing trend towards very ugly, intolerant and vicious politicking illustrated by M16 bullet threat to Tony Pua

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should give his personal attention to stamp out the unhealthy and disturbing trend towards very ugly, intolerant and vicious politicking illustrated by the M16 bullet threat to DAP National Publicity Secretary and MP for Petaling Jaya Utara Tony Pua yesterday.

Pua received a live 5.56mm bullet used in M-16s with a threatening note posted from Tangkak, Johor mailed to his service centre in Damansara Utama yesterday.

The note threatened: "Tony Pua Kiam Wee. You are so brave? What do you want now? You better watch out.

"We know about your family, your house, your office, your car."

Pua believes that the threat was probably related to his recent proposal to the Selangor government to slash Bumiputera discounts for luxury homes and commercial property in the state to improve competitiveness and restore investor confidence while retaining the seven per cent discounts enjoyed by Malays and other Bumiputeras for homes below RM500,000.

Selangor Umno Youth lodged 22 police reports against Pua after the UMNO information chief and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Ahmad Maslan warned Pua not to "play with fire" for being seditious in attacking Article 153 of the Constitution and the "social contract".

The Prime Minister should know that Pua's proposal was no attack on Article 153 of the Constitution or "the social contract". In fact, it is fully in line with the New Economic Model (NEM) proposed by the Prime Minister to reform affirmative action programmes to be "market-friendly and merit-based" and to focus on the bottom 40 percent of lower income earners.

There can be disagreement and debate as to whether Pua's proposal is suitable and timely but it is irresponsible politics of the highest order to attack it as anti-Malay and a challenge to Article 153 of the Constitution or to incite communal hatred against Pua.

The trend towards very ugly, intolerant and vicious politicking makes a total mockery of Najib's 1Malaysia slogan which is why the Prime Minister must provide the leadership to stamp out such un-1Malaysian tendencies in Malaysian politics.

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader & MP for Ipoh Timor