Govt to fight racial, religious sentiments with facts

PETALING JAYA: DAP secretarygeneral Lim Guan Eng today said that the federal government will fight racial and religious sentiments in the country with facts and figures.

Lim, who is also Finance Minister, was quoted saying by Free Malaysia Today that if the government could prove that the people are better off under Pakatan Harapan (PH) than during the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration, the racial sentiments played up by the opposition could be defeated.

“We don’t want to fight emotions with emotions, sentiments with sentiments. We must fight it with facts and figures.

“This is our responsibility. We need to work hard every day to improve the economy for the people. Should we succeed, the people will continue to support the government that can do better at the next election,” he said during the Selangor DAP State Ordinary Convention 2018 yesterday.

The Bagan MP pointed out that this was proven as it was practised in Selangor and Penang, two states under PH, then the Opposition administration before the general elections.

“When I was the Penang CM, I faced demonstrations almost weekly by the opposition playing the race card.

“But when the people got what they never got before, PH won 37 out of 40 Penang state seats. Their economy has improved. This is PH’s formula for success,” he said.

He also commented on the anti-International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) rally which saw at least 55,000 of demonstrators from Umno and PAS converging on Dataran Merdeka in a sea of white.

“This is a dangerous political development. The government already decided not to ratify ICERD.

“They are making an issue out of nothing. In their speeches they’re saying that non-Malay MPs are getting more benefits. They forgot about Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. Are they not Malay? Are they not Muslims?” he said.

The former Penang Chief Minister said DAP would now have to play their role differently compared to when it was a party in the Opposition.