Saying it was welcome and refreshing for Salleh to indirectly admit that Umno could be ousted from Putrajaya in GE14, Lim was nonetheless disappointed that the communications and multimedia minister was sticking to the same racial narrative.
“It is regrettable that Salleh has not been able to wean himself completely from the divisive Umno politics of race, as he has crafted a new bogey to hold the Malays to ransom – that DAP and the Chinese will capture political power from the Malays if Umno loses political power,” Lim said in a statement today.
In a blog post yesterday, Salleh said recent election history had shown how much DAP has gained in terms of its representation in the Dewan Rakyat.
“If Malay voters back DAP in the next general election, can DAP control the country by contesting (about) 60 parliamentary seats alone? Yes, if Malays are not united.
“There are many mixed-ethnicity seats, especially in Perak, Johor, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Melaka.
“As what was said by DAP leaders, a 10% to 15% swing of Malay votes will allow them to control Putrajaya,” Salleh had said.
Lim, who is also DAP parliamentary leader, said it was a great lie that DAP and the Chinese would capture political power from the Malays if Umno loses its political power.
“Salleh is hallucinating. Even if DAP wins all 60 seats out of 222 seats, how on earth can it form the government? This is the type of lies used by Umno to frighten the Malays.
“But I am hopeful the Malays will be able to see beyond and into 1MDB,” Lim said, adding that the Malays should recognise that DAP is not a Chinese political party but a political party for all Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region.
The Gelang Patah MP went on to explain the three factors that ensure Malays will never lose political power in Malaysia even if Umno is defeated in GE14.
“Firstly, the demographic make-up of the Malaysian population with the trend where Malays will increase in the percentage of the population while Chinese and Indian numbers will continue to decline.
“Secondly, the ethnic composition of the electorate. In the last general election, 52.63% of the voters were Malays, 29.68% Chinese, 7.31% Indians, 8.96% non-Malay Bumiputeras and 1.43% others.
“Thirdly, the ethnic composition of the parliamentary constituencies. Out of the 165 parliamentary seats in the peninsula, 114 are Malay majority seats representing some 70%, 22 Chinese majority seats (13%) and 29 mixed seats. There is not a single Indian majority seat.”
Lim said it was clear that the country was now in a situation where ordinary citizens are smarter than ministers.
“When is Salleh going to learn the wisdom of ordinary citizens on social media to his latest fear-mongering tactic?” he said.