KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 4 — Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has reportedly called political parties led by non-Malays ‘parti pendatang’ (parties of immigrants).
According to a report by national daily The Star, he said yesterday that racial issues in Malaysia were partly caused by non-Malays being unwilling to assimilate with Malay culture and creating their own political parties.
“We do not see this in countries such as Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia where there are political parties created for ‘pendatang’ (immigrants).
“But in Malaysia, these ‘pendatang’ live here and receive the citizenship of this country but are still distancing themselves.
“Even in politics, they are establishing their own parties. This is why there are still racial issues in this country. It is not that we do not like them, but they are the ones who do not like us,” he was quoted as saying at a mega ceramah held in Simpang Jeram at the PAS headquarters in Bakri ahead of the by-election there.
He reportedly went on to claim that Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim wants to give the country away to “outsiders”.
“PH is led by a person who tells us that this country does not only belong to the Malays and that it also belongs to others.
“He wants to give this country away to outsiders. This I cannot accept as we are the ones who explored and open up the peninsular,” he was quoted as saying.
In March, Dr Mahathir claimed that Malays “lost everything” after he resigned from office following the collapse of the PH government in February 2020.
He said he sought to hold a “Malay Proclamation” gathering to rally the community into realising the issues they are facing.
Later, in July, he accused the Anwar administration of attempting to turn Malaysia secular and multi-ethnic, saying that promoting multiracialism is against the Federal Constitution, which he alleged instead endorses the “Malayness” of the country.
Article 152 of the Constitution stipulates that the Malay language is the national language, while Article 153 handles the reservation of quotas for the Malays and Bumiputera.
While the Constitution does not explicitly state that Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country, Article 8 guarantees equality among citizens and that no one should be discriminated against based on their ethnicity.
Meanwhile, Anwar, who is also the prime minister, responded by asking what Dr Mahathir had done for Malays as a prime minister for over 20 years for Malays to be in danger of losing everything in Malaysia.
