DAP's Lim Kit Siang Believes The Whole Of Malaysia Is A "Time Bomb" Waiting To Explode
The Gelang Patah MP said so during his speech at the Penang DAP Hari Raya Aidilfitri Open House in Kepala Batas on Sunday.
By Sadho Ram — 20 Jul 2015, 01:48 AM
Lim Kit Siang, who during the last week proposed for a Royal Commission of Truth and Reconciliation following the Low Yat Plaza fiasco, not only reiterated his proposal in response to Utusan Malaysia's warning that the incident was a "ticking bomb waiting to explode", he added that the lingering threat was not just limited to the vicinity of the tech mall that was the scene of a bloody riot
In a statement posted on his website, the Gelang Patah MP said:
"I say it is not just Low Yat Plaza but the whole of Malaysia is a time bomb waiting to explode if race hatred, religious tolerance, breakdown of rule of law and the collapse of good governance are not resolved urgently."
"I fully agree with former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah who yesterday expressed the hope that everyone would bury the hatchet to strengthen the relationship among the different races in the country."
limkitsiang.com
Repeating his call for "Royal Commission of Truth and Reconciliation on the Low Yat Race Riots", he said there is an urgent need for such a commission to be set up to ensure such incidents do not recur
"This is why I had called for a Royal Commission of Truth and Reconciliation on the Low Yat Race Riots last Sunday to ensure that there would be no recurrence of a petty crime of theft of a mobile phone mushrooming into a race riot involving hundreds of people."
"Malaysia cannot continue to adopt the “sweeping under the carpet” mentality, which was why there had been no Commission of Inquiry into the May 13, 1969 race riots to learn from the disasters of our history to ensure a united, peaceful and better future for all Malaysians."
"There is an urgent need for a Royal Commission on Truth and Reconciliation on the Low Yat Race Riots whose primary objective is to prevent any recurrence of the incident whether in Kuala Lumpur or elsewhere in multi-racial Malaysia of a petty crime mushrooming into a racial riot."
limkitsiang.com
Speaking on the terms of reference to be included, he said:
· Whether the police could have acted pre-emptively to prevent the petty crime of mobile phone theft from being transformed into a race riot involving a few hundred people;
· The attack on journalists;
· The role of social media with Ministers blaming it as a main culprit of the Low Yat Incident;
· Whether a major cause of the Low Yat riots was the incessant incitement of hatred as a result of irresponsible politics of race and religion in recent years.
limkitsiang.com
Lim proposed that former International Trade and Industry minister Rafidah Aziz be the chairman of the commission, which can come up with a blueprint to prevent any recurrence of such incidents
The Gelang Patah MP also suggested other names who can sit in the commission including Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, former Cabinet minister Rais Yatim, former Attorney-General Abu Talib Othman, former top civil servant Ramon Navaratnam, NGO leader Ambiga Sreenivasan, national laureate Samad Said and Bishop Paul Tan.
Earlier on Sunday's Mingguan Malaysia, Utusan's editors, writing under the collective pseudonym Awang Selamat, insisted that the Low Yat riots were not caused by the alleged theft of an handphone as claimed by the police, but was rooted in discontent against what they alleged to be corruption, gang activity and counterfeiting
The scene outside the Low Yat Plaza last Sunday when around 200 people gathered to protest the alleged cheating by Chinese traders at the popular digital mall.
Image via The Malaysian Insider