DAP must reach out to all Malaysians, says Kit Siang

DAP must change its "modus operandi" and reach out to all Malaysians in order to combat the malicious attacks and accusations that it is a Chinese party, said Lim Kit Siang. The veteran politician, who turns 75 tomorrow, conceded that the party's influence was limited to urban areas and the largely non-Malay demographic, despite claiming to represent all Malaysians. To resolve this, Lim said DAP must stop relying on middlemen and go down to the ground themselves to fight Umno's racial propaganda and prove it was a party for all Malaysians. "We must be aware that in our plural society today, there are still Chinese who are living completely in the Chinese world, Malays who are living in a completely Malay world, Indians who are living in a completely Indian world, and the same goes with the Ibans and the Kadazans. "It is our duty to reach them, to share with them a larger Malaysian picture. We want them to share our ideals that this beloved Malaysian nation belongs to all of us, that this is our shared destiny," said Lim in his speech at DAP's national retreat on January 16 in Subang Jaya. A copy of the text was made available to the press today by DAP political education chief Liew Chin Tong, in light of Lim's birthday tomorrow. Lim said he did not want DAP to continue making the mistake of fielding only non-Malay candidates in certain states just to appease their allies, such as in Perak during the last two general elections. "I had expressed my strong views to our Perak state leadership, and I do not think we should make the same mistakes again. Now we hear the same thing from our coalition partner Amanah in Johor. "They think the DAP should not field any Malay candidates in the state assembly seats in particular in Johor because of the attack on DAP as a Chinese party. This is the communal trap of politics. We must address this seriously." But he added that DAP still needed its allies in the opposition coalition to form the federal government, as it could not do this alone. Pakatan Harapan's first test would be whether it could avoid seat clashes in the Sarawak state election in April, said Lim. "We must co-operate with Amanah and PKR. We must make a success of Pakatan Harapan in Malaysian politics," he said. – February 19, 2016.]]>