In his blogpost today, Zaid Ibrahim, who recently joined the DAP, said he wanted to contribute in making the party “progressive and reformist” and one that would defend a secular government and rule fairly and justly based on constitutional law.
“Only a secular government can stem the rising tide of radicalism and save Malays, and Malaysia. Only a secular education system can help Malaysians be one people in one country,” he said.
He said the DAP must fight for the Malays differently from how Barisan Nasional’s and Pakatan Harapan’s Malay leaders were, as they were more interested in being popular than doing right by the Malays.
“Malaysia will only be safe and stable when Malays truly want to be part of the whole.”
He said religious laws and practices must not automatically become the laws of the land as only the needs of the community should be used as relevant criteria in determining policies.
“DAP must take a long-haul view of politics in the country, and its ambition should not be just to tie up with another Malay party to form a government,” he said.
He added, “DAP should never sit on the same table in government with a party that feels disgusted with non-Muslims having ‘buka puasa’ with Malays, and who thinks a woman’s place is at home.”
Zaid was referring to a recent Facebook post by Gombak PAS chief Salehhuddin Nasir, describing his disgust at seeing DAP leaders breaking fast with Muslims.
Zaid said he believed the DAP would not want to share power with an Islamist party that has openly said non-Muslims were not fit to govern a Muslim country and that the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, also known as Act 355 was needed for the country’s future legal system.
“DAP has to stand for the future of the country, even if that means it will be many more years before they can govern, whether at the federal or state government level,” Zaid said.
“There is no need to tie up with a pseudo-reformist Malay party because if power is what they want, tying up with a pseudo-reformist Umno makes more sense.”