He reminded Umno leaders that its founder, Dato Onn Jaafar, had asked the party to open its doors to non-Malays but had been rejected.
“Are Umno ministers and leaders prepared, 66 years after Dato Onn suggested it, to consider opening Umno’s doors to non-Malays to become an inclusive Malaysian political party?” the DAP leader said today in a statement rebutting arguments by Salleh Said Keruak of Sabah Umno in his blog yesterday.
Salleh had said that fielding more Malay candidates at the next general election would not make the DAP a multiracial party.
Lim said Salleh’s statement was proof of the “narrow-minded and petty mentality” of Umno leaders and said the Federal Government’s 1Malaysia policy of Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is Umno president, was a failure bogged down by Umno’s politics of race.
He said the success of Malaysian nation-building would be measured by the country’s ability to create a common national identity where citizens were Malaysians first, and matters of race, religion, region and socio-economic status came second.
“In other words, we accept each other as Malaysians first above all else.”
He said Umno leaders should emulate the DAP’s example by moving forward from being Malay to becoming Malaysian leaders.
Lim questioned whether Salleh, who is communications minister, was a minister for Malays only or a minister for all Malaysians.
He said he would publicly laud Umno if it took steps to become an inclusive Malaysian political party open to all Malaysians.
READ MORE