Kuala Lumpur, Jan 28- The Malaysian Council of Former Elected Representatives (Mubarak) has welcomed a suggestion by Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for a national dialogue on religious harmony.
Its information chief, Datuk Abdul Rahman Sulaiman said however, the dialogue could only be successful if Anwar was truly sincere for the good of the nation’s future.
“I think it’s time for a dialogue and it can only be done if the opposition coalition is sincere. The present political mess is caused by them as they are the ones who started the hate campaign, hence causing the present problem, including raising racial and religious tensions.
“Now that he realises this and wants to repair the damage he had created, everyone should welcome it,” he said in a statement here Monday.
Abdul Rahman, who is also Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) chairman, said Mubarak regarded Anwar’s advice as being directed towards his supporters who had become unruly.
He said this when commenting on Anwar’s suggestion for a national consensus involving the Barisan Nasional (BN) and the opposition, to overcome among others, elements threatening unity, religious hatred, problems in administering the country, transparency and issues on accountability when delivering a special message titled, ‘Ke Arah Sebuah Konsesnsus Nasional’ (Towards a National Consensus) in Subang Jaya (Selangor) yesterday.
Abdul Rahman said it was not right for Anwar to claim that he had supposedly made several invitations before but did not get any response.
“As far as I know, Barisan Nasional has invited Pas for a ‘muzakarah’ (dialogue), but the opposition coalition did not agree if Pas wanted to do so. So, for a dialogue to succeed this time around, Anwar must be sincere,” he said.
Recently, Anwar openly invited BN for a national dialogue, especially on racial and religious harmony in the country.
The Permatang Pauh member of parliament said the current situation could ruin national unity and the identity of Malaysians.
Political analyst Prof Datuk Dr Zainal Kling said the opposition should stop questioning various issues related to religion, social and anything which touched on the Federal Constitution to the point of causing tension in the community.
He said the actions of some opposition leaders had poisoned the minds of youths in these parties to misbehave and in turn, affect the public.
“In the social media, for example, most misconduct were by youths under the DAP and PKR. If their leaders encourage this and question laws which are almost 60 years old, then everything will be in chaos.
“Therefore, if they (opposition) stop, there will not be such chaos. The current problems stemmed from them,” he said.
Zainal said Anwar’s proposal for a national dialogue was only to cloud the people’s eyes, and to be seen as a hero for unity between the government and opposition.
Universiti Putra Malaysia’s faculty of human ecology lecturer Dr Amini Amir Abdullah said Anwar’s call was an effort to divert attention from issues that surround the opposition.
He said the Parti Keadilan Rakyat adviser had started detecting cracks within the party and wanted to try to become a hero for the party while it was saddled with various issues.
“Anwar is desperate, and trapped in following the issue…we must remember that when Anwar starts talking about unity, it means he detects problems within the party while he was busy manipulating the kalimah Allah issue with DAP to gain political support,” he said when contacted.
Amini Amir reminded Anwar not to be arrogant in championing racial issues, as the cracks were sparked by Anwar himself after he was fired from the deputy prime minister’s post in 1998.
“So, Anwar should not twist facts by suddenly talking about race, when racial disunity emanated when Anwar fought against his dismissal from the government.
“Then, the Malays began to be divided…its peak was when BN did not obtain the two-third majority in the 2008 General Election, which some say was the result of racial issues played up by the opposition,” he said.
– Bernama
