IN light of recent developments in the country, DAP will lose the Iskandar Puteri seat and 30%-40% of its votes if elections are held now, said Lim Kit Siang

“This is the extent of the misperception and misunderstanding about DAP in the Pakatan Harapan government which our long-standing supporters have about us,” the Iskandar Puteri MP said at a party briefing last night.

DAP has not betrayed its supporters nor given up on the objectives of a new Malaysia which are unity, freedom, justice and integrity, he said.

“If DAP has, in fact, betrayed the people, then there is no way the party can recover or recapture the support of voters with the passage of time. In fact, the outcome can only be worse,” said the 78-year-old.

The party, he said, will never betray the people but DAP leaders must have the stamina, perseverance and commitment to stay the course for a New Malaysia.

The party has come under fire over plans to introduce khat in vernacular schools in the year four syllabus with Chinese educationist launching a petition to stop it, despite the Education Ministry assuring that it will not be an examination subject.

Lim has defended the policy and said yesterday the subject is already in the year five Bahasa Malaysia textbooks in national-type schools.

The DAP adviser said he was monitoring the news about the implementation of khat in vernacular schools while in India and noted the developments didn’t match the sentiments on the ground.

“(For this), we must commend political conspirators for trapping Malaysia in an extraordinary situation where Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans and Ibans all feel threatened.

“Every community is made to believe that its culture and ethnicity is facing an existential threat.

“I never thought I would achieve a status unheard of for any Malaysian – feared and condemned by some Malays for being a Chinese threat to Malay rights and ethnicity as well as feared and condemned by some Chinese for betraying Chinese rights, language and culture.”

The list of allegations against him were contradictory, he said.

A New Malaysia can become a world-class nation in various fields of human endeavour as four great civilisations – Islamic, Chinese, Indian and Western – meet in confluence in Malaysia, he said.

“But we must come out of our ethnic shells, interact and appreciate the virtues and best values of each other’s ethnicity and not to fall victim to evil conspirators who only want to engender and incite suspicion, distrust, fear and hatred – pitting race against race and religion against religion.

“A good start could be made with wide-ranging review of the new Malaysia objective to ensure that the New Economic Policy is implemented on a needs-basis rather race-basis, as agreed by eminent Malaysians like Daim Zainuddin, Rafidah Aziz and Anwar Ibrahim.” – August 11, 2019.