KUALA LUMPUR, April 17 — Five months after the 15th general election, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang is now hoping that Umno will regain its strength.
The former lawmaker said he now wants the best for Umno as the party is now part of the ruling federal coalition under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. “I want the Anwar unity government to succeed which means I want Umno to be stronger than both PAS and Bersatu,” he said in a statement today.
But at the same time, Lim expressed reservations for Umno’s push for a royal pardon for the Malay nationalist party’s former president Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
He said that if Najib were granted a pardon, it could potentially result in a loss of voter support for Umno instead of rejuvenating the party.
Lim urged Umno leaders to return the party to its original nation-building principles and policies as entrenched in the Constitution and the Rukun Negara, under the leadership of their past presidents Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein and Tan Sri Hussein Onn who were also the country’s first three prime ministers.
He said the trio had focused on fighting for judicial independence and giving top priority to the fight against corruption.
“We must not lead Malaysians comprising diverse ethnicities, religions and cultures into a cul-de-sac.
“Why can’t Malaysia be a model country for the world for inter-ethnic, inter-religious, inter-cultural and inter-civilisational understanding, tolerance and harmony or in Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman’s words, ‘a beacon of light in a difficult and distracted world’?” Lim asked.
