The DAP today invited all “non-Umno” members in Barisan Nasional (BN) to cast aside their political beliefs and unite with their opposition foes to fight one common enemy together — Datuk Ibrahim Ali.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, in lambasting the government’s failure to reprimand the Perkasa president for waging a crusade against the Christians, said it was time for all Malaysians to unite against extremism, regardless of their political beliefs.
“Only if we cleanse hatred from our heart and fill our soul with love can we find peace, balance and harmony with our lives and with each other. For this reason, DAP calls on all Malaysians to stand up for peace and harmony by uniting against extremists and harmony that wants to see Malaysia burn with hatred and violence.
“DAP is willing to work with all Malaysians, including non-Umno component members in BN, to oppose this crusade and demand action against Utusan Malaysia and Ibrahim Ali’s reckless opportunism and irresponsible adventurism,” he said in his Wesak Day message today.
Lim claimed Malaysians were outraged at the Home Ministry’s inaction against both Ibrahim for his threat and the daily for recently publishing allegations of a plot between DAP and Christian leaders to usurp Islam.
He said Utusan Malaysia and Ibrahim should be punished for attempting to cause a strain to the ties between the Malays and the non-Malays.
“Are the non-Malays and non-Muslims an easy target to be blamed and kicked around based on lies just to distract attention from the real problems affecting 27 million Malaysians?
“Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin signalled the inevitability of price hikes when he announced yesterday that the country could no longer maintain the current subsidies which has doubled this year from RM10.32 billion to RM20.58 billion, with RM18 billion for petroleum-related sectors,” he pointed out.
Lim said that instead of addressing the “real issues” faced by Malaysians, the government was allowing Ibrahim and his Perkasa to act as distractions by talking about a crusade against Christians.
“The price hikes and difficult economic livelihood of the people are real issues that must be addressed.
“Whether in Cabinet or outside Cabinet, the time has come for all Malaysians, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, to stand together to reject hatred unequivocally, abhor extremists and universally condemn violence,” he said.
Ibrahim had threatened Christians nationwide during a ceramah in Gombak on Saturday that he would wage a crusade or holy war should they proceed with their agenda to usurp Islam.
The pint-sized Malay rights leader thundered to a ceramah audience of some 200 at Kampung Changkat here that he was willing to take the fall for his statement for the sake of defending the dignity of Islam.
Although he complained of fatigue from his nine ceramah stops from Kelantan to Gombak since Friday night, the Pasir Mas MP also said his blood was boiling with rage and “hairs standing on end” following recent reports of an alleged Christian conspiracy between religious leaders and opposition party politicians.
“In Kelantan, I told the security forces present that if they want to inform Bukit Aman (police) of my declarations to please go ahead.
“Please mark my words — if any party in Penang, especially the Christian priests who are being backed by the Penang DAP, continues with their agenda which we are already aware of, I would like to offer that if they want to hold a crusade, we can too,” he charged.
Ibrahim was referring to the recent row over a controversial newspaper report in Utusan Malaysia entitled “Kristian Agam Rasmi?” (Christianity the official religion?) where it was alleged that DAP leaders and Christian priests are conspiring to take over Putrajaya, abolish Islam as the religion of the federation and install a Christian prime minister.
Christian leaders and DAP members have denied the reports and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was even forced to host a meeting with leading religious figures to solve the issue but Ibrahim insisted on Saturday that the report is true.
Utusan Malaysia’s Christian conspiracy report is presently under police investigation.
