Thursday 28 Mar 2024
By
main news image

(May 18): Racial harmony in the country was much better during Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's 22 years as prime minister, the octogenarian said today.

"One of the things that I am proud of, during my 22 years as prime minister, there was racial harmony, and there were no major racial incidents," he said.

Dr Mahathir said that the results of the 13th general elections was proof enough to show the existence of a racial divide in the country.

"The government claims that racial harmony is better now. But the recent election show otherwise," he said.

"During my time, over five elections, we always had the support of other communities and this enabled us to always form a two-thirds majority," he added.

He said that even when the Malays were unhappy with him in 1999, which he attributed to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's "black eye" incident and the reformasi movement, other races offered Barisan Nasional support to enable the ruling coalition to keep its two-thirds majority.

He also dismissed notions that the current racial tension in the country began due to policies crafted during his tenure.

"No. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Malays hated the Chinese. They hated the Chinese because many were communists, and the Malays hated communists," he said.

"It was Tunku Abdul Rahman (first Prime Minister) who brought them to the table and made sure all races worked together. It was Tunku's initiative," he added.

"I was there during that time so I know."

In the aftermath of the 13th general election, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak branded the poor result a "Chinese tsunami".

Dr Mahathir himself, shortly after the results were out, had singled out the Chinese community as voting for the opposition. – The Malaysian Insider

      Print
      Text Size
      Share