Barisan Nasional Supreme Council emergency meeting tomorrow should not demand unanimous support from all component parties for UMNO Youth’s proposal for revival of NEP but should set up a National Consultative Council to ensure national  unity instead of discord as the overriding objective for the next 15 years

Media Statement (2)
by Lim Kit Siang  

(Petaling Jaya, Sunday): The Barisan Nasional Supreme Council emergency meeting tomorrow should not demand unanimous support from all component parties for UMNO Youth’s proposal for revival of New Economic Policy (NEP) but should agree to the setting up of a National Consultative Council to ensure national unity instead of discord as the overriding objective  for the next 15 years.

The leaders of the Barisan Nasional component parties, whether MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP, PBS or even UMNO, should learn from their mistake in October 2001 when the  Barisan Nasional Supreme Council was convened in an emergency session and gave “instant”  endorsement to the declaration by the then Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad that Malaysia was an Islamic State when addressing the Gerakan National Delegates Conference on Sept. 29, 2001.

In retrospect, the decision of the  Barisan Nasional Supreme Council  emergency meeting in October 2001 to endorse the “929 Declaration” that Malaysia was an Islamic State was a great nation-building mistake, not only because it went against the bedrock principles of the Merdeka “social contract” reached by the forefathers of all communities and written into the 1957 Merdeka Constitution, the 1963 Malaysia Agreement and the 1970 Rukunegara that Malaysia is a democratic, secular and multi-religious nation with Islam as the official religion but not an Islamic State, it also went against the deep-seated beliefs and feelings of the majority of the ordinary members of all the Barisan Nasional component parties.

This was  why no Barisan Nasional component party, whether  MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP or the PBS had ever presented any resolution in their national conference or congress asking for endorsement of the “929 Declaration” that Malaysia was  an Islamic State, as such a resolution would  never receive the support of the majority of the delegates or members.

This is also why DAP MPs   have to speak up in Parliament not only on behalf of DAP and our supporters, but also on behalf of MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP, PBS,   Sabah and Sarawak parliamentarians,   to make it very clear that Malaysia was never conceived by our forefathers as  an Islamic State because these Barisan Nasional leaders and MPs dare not express their innermost beliefs and agreement  with the DAP that Malaysia is not an Islamic State.

The Barisan Nasional Supreme Council emergency meeting tomorrow should ensure that it would not repeat such a grave  nation-building blunder for a second time in four years, this time  with regard to UMNO Youth’s proposal for revival of NEP.

UMNO Youth had convened a special meeting of the Barisan Nasional Youth on Wednesay and the UMNO Youth deputy leader, Khairy Jamaluddin announced after the two-hour  meeting that all the youth movements of the Barisan Nasional component parties, including MCA and Gerakan, were in full support of UMNO Youth’s call for the revival of the NEP  as “a national agenda for all Malaysians”.

The  Barisan Nasional Supreme Council emergency meeting tomorrow should not be a rubber-stamp to endorse UMNO Youth’s call for the revival of NEP as it is clear that the majority of the Barisan Nasional leaders  have serious and  legitimate reservations about the call.

The best decision to  be taken by the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council tomorrow  is to convene a national consultative conference involving all political parties, professions, NGOs, racial and religious groups to discuss and decide on the best economic strategy for the nation and all communities in the country for the next 15 years with national unity as the overriding objective of all government development plans and policies.

(31/07/2005)