PETALING JAYA, July 4 — Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) president Syed Saddid Abdul Rahman has today vowed to prove Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, after the latter’s racial remark that promoting a multi-ethnic Malaysia means rejecting the Federal Constitution.

After the former prime minister claimed that the Constitution is steeped in "Malayness”, Syed Saddiq said Muda will prove the "hurtful” message wrong and that embracing multi-racialism will not weaken the society but instead strengthens it.

"As you see in front of us, there are many in the new generation, young Malay leaders from Muda, and as the president of Muda I’d like to send this unequivocally clear message that we the new generation of Malay leaders in Muda will prove you wrong, Tun Dr Mahathir.

"We’ll prove you wrong because we, the new generation of Muda leaders believe that embracing multi-racialism will not weaken us but will only strengthen us as a country. That by embracing meritocracy we’re not killing the Malays but we’re building a more resilient new generation of Malays,” Syed Saddiq told a press conference at the party’s headquarters here.

Yesterday, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad claimed that promoting multiracialism is against the Federal Constitution, which he alleged is steeped in "Malayness”.

He also falsely accused the Anwar administration of being pressured by DAP to turn the country secular.

"Instead of dividing Malaysians based on the colour of their skin, we should be focused on uniting Malaysians, that instead of looking backwards on past historic differences we should be looking forward in what unites us as one people and one country.

"So then the Malay leaders of Muda will be a new breed of Malay leaders who not merely tolerate diversity and multi-racialism, but will embrace and celebrate diversity and meritocracy,” Syed Saddiq said.

He added that this is because Muda believes that an attack on the non-Malays and non-Bumiputera equals an attack against all Malaysians — similar to how an attack against the Malay majority can also be construed as an attack against all Malaysians.

"Our lives, our fate and our future are interconnected with one another intertwined with one another. When we succeed we succeed as a country together, when we fail we fail as a country together.

"There is no other country which we can go to if we fail, because the Chinese and Indians who are Malaysians treat this country as their motherland similarly to the Malays.

"You’re looking at second, third, fourth generation who were born here, live here, studied here, worked here and will most likely shut their eyes for the last time in this blessed land. And with that we know that our future lies in our hands, not by continuous divisions not by perpetuating the same old politics or divisions,” he said.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim hit back at Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad by saying that he has always governed the country according to the principles of the Federal Constitution.

His deputy Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi also accused the nonagenarian Dr Mahathir of being provocative because he has nothing better to do in his old age, and has in the past used a similar tactic to attract attention.