Najib Abdul Razak has made a grave error in using racial connotations at the 2016 Umno general assembly yesterday, as it has disastrous racial implications, said a former deputy minister.

Former Umno MP and now Pakatan Harapan's chief secretary Saifuddin Abdullah blasted Najib for such a move.

"No prime minister should commit such an error, which may lead to racial disaster," Saifuddin told Malaysiakini in a text message.

"Firstly, he made baseless accusations against DAP as though DAP is an anti-Malay and anti-Islam party," he said.

"Secondly, DAP does not dictate matters in Harapan. In Harapan, there is no such thing as which party dictates another, because we lead collectively," said Saifuddin, the former Temerloh MP and former deputy higher education minister.

In his policy speech yesterday at the Umno AGM, Najib portrayed DAP as an enemy of Islam and the bumiputera, and claimed Islam would be sidelined if DAP comes to power.

The prime minister also claimed the ascension of the "liberal" DAP would caused Malay privileges and institutions, such as Mara, Felda and Felcra, to "go extinct".

Therefore Najib said if the people had to choose between DAP or Umno, they would choose Umno.

Saifuddin however pointed out DAP had affirmed it would uphold the federal constitution even during the Pakatan Rakyat coalition with PKR and PAS.

This includes what is stipulated in the constitution, among others, the status of Islam as the official religion, the privileged position of the Malays, the royalty and Bahasa Malaysia as the official language.

"DAP has reiterated the same commitment in Harapan, together with PKR and Amanah.

"This was stated in the agreement signed by the three Harapan parties on Jan 9," he added.

'Us or them' politics

Saifuddin said Najib in his speech was playing a dangerous game of dividing the people by race.

"The most dangerous part is Najib dividing the country's politics according to race, by issuing an ultimatum to people to choose whether they want DAP or Umno to lead," he said.

"This means Najib is building a political configuration that is more extreme, a model of a Malay, bumiputera and Islamic dominance versus a non-Malay, non-bumiputera and non-Islam one," he said.

"Najib hopes for a situation where the government is Malay, bumiputera and Islamic dominated, while the common people comprise the other races and religions," he added.

"This is the kind of political model portrayed by Najib - the worst kind of racial, racist politics that has ever been portrayed by a prime minister of Malaysia.

"This model is very dangerous, as it goes against the diversity of Malaysian society.

"This will lead to a terrible racial disaster, and the people should reject this new disaster that Najib intends to bring," he said.

'Fear-mongering at its worst'

Meanwhile Singapore's Straits Times reported analysts saying Najib was trying to "paint a dark picture for his core Malay-Muslim voters so that they remain loyal to him".

In the report today, it quoted lawyer Syahredzan Johan as saying the allegations against DAP doing away with bumiputera-centric institutions had no basis, as they were created through Parliament.

"You'll need an Act to abolish these institutions and DAP doesn't have the numbers to do that," said lawyer Syahredzan Johan.

"It's fear-mongering at its worst, and at best, it's political rhetoric.

"As the elections draw closer, we'll see more of this rhetoric," he was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile DAP parliamentarian Liew Ching Tong noted Najib had only three themes in his AGM speech, and none had to do with "four core issues that are of great concern to millions of ordinary Malaysians, especially ordinary Malays".

The latter, he said, were the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the 1MDB scandal, the sharp decline of the ringgit’s value, and the higher cost of living.

"When ordinary Malaysians see their disposable income fall, consumer confidence declines, followed by a confidence crisis of businesses. Malaysia is slowly entering into a long decline and, possibly, a crisis," said Liew in a statement.

Instead, said Liew, Najib had only three themes: loyalty to the Umno president, how Umno has to "fight DAP to protect and save the Malays", and "third, PAS is now a friend of Umno".

He said fear is the theme that Umno is using to prepare for the next general election.

"Moving forward, we can expect more racially driven messages by the Najib government," said the Kluang MP.