KUALA LUMPUR: It is time for all political parties, be it the opposition or the ruling government, to promote racial harmony instead of pushing for race-based politics for their own agenda.
Spokesperson for the collective group G25, Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin (pix) said political parties should be promoting harmony where every Malaysian should be treated equally, instead of playing up racial and religious issues.
“They are playing up racial and religious issues and making unacceptable statements that their political agenda is a Malay-Muslim agenda,”
“The rights of the Malays are enshrined under Article 153 (of the Federal Constitution), and we also have the New Economic Policy (NEP), but now we are calling for the NEP to be needs-based and not race-based,” she told theSun after the panel discussion on the forum “Women in Law: Challenges and Perspectives” on Friday.
She was commenting on the potential alliance formed between Umno and PAS, which is seen as a shift in Malay politics as these two were previously at loggerheads.
This formidable alliance has been gaining grounds in the Cameron Highlands and Semenyih by-elections, which saw Barisan Nasional maintaining one seat and wresting one seat from Pakatan Harapan.
Noor Farida also urged the far-right to think twice before considering supporting an alliance like Umno-PAS.
“They have no credibility and the Malays should be wise enough to reject all their propaganda. They have nothing to fight on, but to resort to using race and religion for their own political benefit,” she said.
