In the run up to the 11 May voting for the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election, PN Chairman and Bersatu President Tan Sir Muhyiddin Yassin should prove his moderate and Malaysian minded credentials by directing the PN campaign to stop the desperate, dirty and dangerous tactics of using racist and extremist politics employed by PN MPs. Clearly PN MPs such as PAS Information chief Fadhli Shaari and Bersatu youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad had seen an opportunity in this DAP held-seat and PH fielding a female Chinese candidate to solidify the Malay vote in Kuala Kubu Baharu.
Wan Ahmad Fayhsal had tried to strike fear and insecurity amongst Malay voters by repeating the lie two days ago that 1.2 million Chinese tourists had overstayed between 2018 and 2021 and did not leave the country. The lie that 1.2 million Chinese tourists did not leave Malaysia had been denied repeatedly in the past by all Home Ministers, including current Opposition Leader and Bersatu Secretary-General Hamzah Zainudin when he was the Home Minister.
Fadhli Shaari had challenged PH candidate Pang Sock Tao to reveal her UPSR and SPM results. When Pang accepted his challenge and disclosed she was a top student with straight As in both UPSR and SPM, Fadhli then implied Pang had done wrong by attending a Chinese vernacular school.
To date Fadhli had never apologised for attacking Pang for attending a Chinese vernacular school. Clearly Fadhli has either forgotten or ignored that teaching, learning and using one’s own mother tongue is a guaranteed constitutional right under Article 152 of the Federal Constitution.
Trying to salvage the situation, Wan Fayhsal then claimed that PN had no intention of closing down vernacular schools. This contradicts Wan Fayhsal’s earlier call for abolishing vernacular Chinese and Tamil schools when he was a Deputy Minister under Tan Sri Muhyiddin’s government.
Using lies to perpetuate racist and extremist rhetoric has never helped to make the people’s lives easier. PN should do better to tell how their candidate can bring about development or continue the development projects started by the late ADUN Lee Kee Hiong or how the rakyat can benefit from an opposition Assemblyman without full access to sufficient development funds can help associations, NGOs, students, the sick, poor and elderly as well as religious bodies.
LIM GUAN ENG
Originally published on 9th May 2024
