The government's decision to allow the Lynas rare earth plant to continue operating in Malaysia has exposed the falsehood of the Umno-PAS alliance's racial and religious rhetoric, according to Lim Guan Eng.
Training his guns on BN advisor Najib Abdul Razak, Lim noted how the former premier had accused DAP's non-Malay ministers of being the kingmakers in the Pakatan Harapan government in an attempt to escalate tension amongst the Malays.
“Such lies by Najib is immediately exposed when DAP did not succeed in convincing Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to close down Lynas but will continue trying to persuade the prime minister to understand the genuine concerns of environmentalists.
“And yet Najib contradicts himself by asking the so-called 'kingmaker' DAP leaders to resign for failing to close down Lynas,” added the DAP secretary-general in a statement this afternoon.
Lim, who is also finance minister, warned that the determination of Umno-PAS' “racist and religious extremist leadership together with their MCA and MIC apologists” to regain power had reached a dangerous level.
Citing Muslim preacher Zakir Naik as the latest issue on this agenda, he alleged that Umno and PAS were stoking racial religious hatred amongst the Malays and Muslims while MCA and MIC were doing likewise amongst non-Malays and non-Muslims.
“They hope to create perfect chaos to see the end of Harapan,” he added.
Lim said neither the opposition nor publications controlled by them would highlight the success of the Harapan government in recording a higher 2019 second-quarter economic growth of 4.9 percent compared to the first quarter's 4.5 percent.
He added that Malaysia is the only Asean nation has recorded higher economic growth in the second quarter than the first quarter of 2019.
“Such racist and religious extremist stereotypes is typical of the opposition when they sing a different tune when facing non-Malays and non-Muslims.
“MCA and MIC that warns of the dangers from racists and religious extremists threatening non-Malays and non-Muslims, are working closely with Umno and PAS that want to take away the rights of non-Malays and non-Muslims.
“Do PAS, Umno, MCA and MIC believe that Malaysians regardless of race, religion or background, are so gullible as to fall for such ethnic and religious hatred, to divert attention away from the opposition's corruption, or economic incompetence where they cannot even afford to pay the salaries of government employees?” he added.
Lim said BN and PAS' aim of reclaiming power by sowing racial and religious animosity is nothing more than a fanciful dream.
“(This) will not succeed when the Harapan government is committed to adopting a rational and moderate approach towards both nation-building and handling hot-button issues.
“Further, the Harapan government is committed to listening to the people, including differing views, even when decisions are made to actively explore better alternatives.
“This is part and parcel of democracy and DAP leaders will continue to play an active part towards better decision-making that will improve democracy, public health and safety as well as the living standard of the rakyat,” he added.
