THE country is falling behind in the international race for the last century-and-a-half because of the refusal by certain groups to accept Malaysia as a plural society, said an MP.
Veteran DAP lawmaker Lim Kit Siang said this in reference to a landmark court decision on Wednesday (Dec 29) that saw the High Court dismissing the lawsuit brought forward by the Federation of Peninsular Malay Students (GPMS), the Islamic Education Development Council (MAPPIM) and the Coalition of National Writers’ Association (GAPENA).
The coalition of three associations had initiated the lawsuit to push the Government to prohibit vernacular schools on grounds that the existence of vernacular schools goes against provisions in the Federal Constitution.
In reading his summary judgment, High Court Judge Justice Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali said the Federal Constitution, in fact, expressly protected teaching in mother tongues other than Bahasa Malaysia.
“It is unfortunate that there are still people who do not accept Malaysia is a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation,” Lim remarked.
“Malaysia lost out in the international race in the last half a century, overtaken by one country after another, not because Malaysia is a plural society but because of the refusal to accept that Malaysia is a plural society.
“As embraced by the Malaysian Constitution and the Rukun Negara, Malaysia cannot succeed as a Malay, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan or Dayak country – it can only succeed as a Malaysian nation.”
According to Lim who is also the Iskandar Puteri MP, this judgement was reminiscent of Justice Mohd Nazlan’s landmark decision on July 28 last year to sentence former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to 12 years’ imprisonment and RM210 mil fine for abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust.
In his judgement, Justice Mohd Nazlan had described the case as “the worst kind of abuse of position and criminal breach of trust” involving “the highest-ranking authority in the government”.
Meanwhile, in dismissing Najib’s appeal, the Court of Appeal chaired by Justice Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil had on Dec 8 branded the former premier’s actions a “national embarrassment”.
“But Najib is not embarrassed and has not given up his hopes to return as the prime minister of Malaysia,” Lim continued.
“The 1MDB ‘kleptocracy at its worst’ scandal is undoubtedly the ‘infamy of infamies’, and [this was] why when as a convicted criminal, Najib opened an international conference on Dec 27, 2021, it had brought shame and infamy to Malaysia.
“Will Najib renounce his hope to return as the prime minister of Malaysia?”
The Pekan MP had been recently invited as a keynote speaker at the World Chinese Economic Forum (WCEF), prompting property tycoon Lee Kim Yew who was among WCEF’s founders but was no longer associated with the group to call it an “embarrassment”. – Dec 30, 2021
