By Shannon Teoh
ALOR STAR, April 30 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad told the Malays today they must unite under the Umno-dominated Barisan Nasional (BN) because division into three parties has made them weak.
The former prime minister said a general election, expected to be held within the year, was an important test for the Malays.
“If we are swayed by fairy tales then we will reject BN and vote for the opposition.
“These days, I find that the cry of ‘Hidup Melayu’ (long live the Malays) does not get a lot of support. Malays seem to be afraid of saying ‘Melayu’ in their own land,” he said to over 1,000 Malays in his birthplace.
“When we say ‘Melayu’ we will be called racist,” Dr Mahathir said at a gathering here dubbed Perhimpunan Melayu Perkasa Kedah.
Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister said that in the past, the Malays were only loyal to their respective state Rulers and were easily controlled by other nations such as the Chinese and Siamese.
The Perkasa patron said that Umno had united the Malays and gained independence from the British.
However, PAS’s emergence split the Malays into two and caused the Malays to fight among themselves, he said.
Dr Mahathir said when Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim formed PKR after being sacked as deputy prime minister in 1998, it further divided the Malays into three groups.
“He doesn’t care about Malay unity, he just wants to be prime minister,” he said.
Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak had earlier today invited PAS to leave the opposition as it could not further Islam while partnering the DAP.
The prime minister’s invitation follows a call last weekend by Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia for a “1 Melayu, 1 Bumi” campaign to unite the Malays against what the newspaper said was racial politics by the DAP to stir up Chinese sentiment.
It also continues concerted efforts by Umno post-Election 2008 to get PAS to join forces in the name of Malay-Muslim unity.
The subject of unity talks between PAS and Umno dominated the 2009 PAS Muktamar, which saw a number of leaders keen on exploring talks with Umno emerging big winners.
Dr Mahathir told reporters later that it was good if PAS wanted to join BN “but when they joined before, they caused trouble. If they are sincere then it is okay.”
Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali said the Malay rights NGO supported the move even though he did not “think it would become reality.”
“This is because PAS does not think of Malay unity but only taking power and Putrajaya.”
