Malay proclamation is to topple the Unity Govt, says Ramasamy

GEORGETOWN - Penang DAP deputy chairman P Ramasamy claimed that the Malay Proclamation initiated by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was seen as an attempt to topple the Unity Government led by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

He said the Malay proclamation was nothing but political propaganda to gain the Malays' support to challenge and overthrow the Unity Government.

Dr Mahathir could not accept the fact that Anwar has become prime minister, which has caused him anxiety.

"The Malay proclamation may be aimed at saving the Malays from being sidelined.

"However, if we look at it more carefully, it is not to save the Malays but to bring down the Unity government under Anwar's leadership.

"Dr Mahathir thinks he is the only one who can save the Malays from oppression and tyranny.

"But he easily or intentionally forgets that he is a leader who failed to unite the Malays," he said in a statement on Facebook today.

Ramasamy who is also Penang Deputy Chief Minister II said that the declaration of the Malay proclamation was a programme focusing on 12 points to save the Malays in this country.

"Even though Dr Mahathir had served as prime minister for two terms, he never made any serious attempts to improve the social and economic standards of the Malay community.

"As the whole world already knows, Dr Mahathir had been manipulating and using racial and religious rhetoric to make his family members and cronies richer.

"If Dr Mahathir and Pas leaders are so determined to dignify the Malays, then what have they done all this while?

"Dr Mahathir was the prime minister in disguise with dictatorship power for more than 22 years. Why didn't he do something that would leave an impact to improve the social and economic standards of the Malays while he was in power," he said.

In the meantime, Ramasamy also criticised Pas which had been governing Kelantan and Terengganu for several decades.

He questioned why the Malays in both states were so poor that they had to migrate to big cities and Singapore to get jobs with better pay.

In fact, he said people in Kelantan could still not get basic facilities such as sufficient and clean water.

"Pas under its president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang's leadership, uses religion as just a tool to ensure the party remains relevant to the Malays.

"Without religion, Pas is no different from other political parties," he said.

Commenting further, Ramasamy said Dr Mahathir and Abdul Hadi can continue repeating the mantra of the Unity government collapsing as they are free to do so.

"By repeating this, they inadvertently reveal the true nature of the Malay proclamation," Ramasamy said.

"The declaration aims to topple the Unity Government and has nothing to do with upholding the dignity of the Malays," he said.