Amirudin, who has just entered his second term of office, said the national reconciliation process has to be undertaken by both national leaders and the people.

“The purpose of this process is to reduce the ‘heat’ we have seen since the ‘irresponsible tragedy’ (that happened in) February 2020, which disregarded democratic processes and denied the people’s direct role in determining the future of the country,” he said at the state-level Merdeka celebrations in Shah Alam yesterday.

He was alluding to the Sheraton Move, which led to the downfall of the Pakatan Harapan-led federal government after 22 months in power.

Amirudin said the “winner takes all” mentality is not part and parcel of democratic political practice and that “democracy is not a zero-sum game”.

He said Selangor had just gone through a state election process that was quite competitive because some quarters had been “excessive” and had no regard for the sensitivities of others.

In a separate message, Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow urged all parties in the state to set aside their political differences after the state election and focus on unity in honour of the Merdeka Day celebration.

He said it would be impossible to achieve stability, prosperity and continuous progress without unity, Bernama reported.

“Stop any provocation, avoid making confrontational statements using religious and racial sentiments or spreading false information, especially on social media, that could lead to disunity among people of different races,” he said.