THE proposed ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and Rome Statue was Saifuddin Abdullah’s ideas, said Anthony Loke.

“These issues were not DAP’s, although it was in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) manifesto or Buku Harapan,” said the former transport minister during a Facebook live interview with Majlis Professor Negara (MPN) today.

“It was championed by Saifuddin, who was the foreign minister. But the issues were not brought up to the cabinet to be discussed.”

Loke said he was unaware that the treaties were to be ratified or its implications, until former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad attended the United Nations general assembly in 2018.

“There were no preparations to explain the issue to the public and it became a polemic and issues for Umno and PAS to attack the PH government,” said the DAP organising secretary.

Loke was responding to MPN fellow Muhammad Asri Mohd Ali’s question on whether Dr Mahathir supported the ratification of ICERD and Rome Statute and whether they were on DAP’s agenda in the PH government.

Loke said although DAP believes in multiracialism and equality for all Malaysians, it does not mean that it does not accept what has already been agreed on in the Federal Constitution.

“We believe in multiracialism, support that Islam is the religion of the federation and the Malay language as the national language as well as Article 153 in the Federal Constitution,” he said.

Using DAP as the bogeyman, Umno and PAS had attacked the PH administration using issues such as ICERD and the Rome Statute.

And when the government finally fell in February last year, Bersatu claimed that it had quit the coalition to set up a purely Malay government because it could not tolerate DAP any more.

Speaking on the language issue, Loke said it is a malicious myth perpetuated by its political opponents that DAP wants to make Tamil and Mandarin equal with the Malay language in Malaysia or that equality means eroding Malay rights and privileges.

“Take, for instance, the Malay language. I use it all the time. And when I was a minister, I would only use Malay in my press conferences. Don’t I speak Malay well?

“In fact, most of the DAP lawmakers speak Malay well,” he said.

He added that most Chinese can use Malay, although the older generation is not as good due to educational backgrounds.

“We accept and support the Malay language as the national and unification language. But we should not deny other communities from learning their mother tongue,” he said.

“Diversity is not a liability but a strength that can be used for the good of the country.”

He said DAP’s interpretation has nothing do with challenging the status quo as stated in the Federal Constitution.

“What we want to see is no double standards in enforcement and fairer distribution of resources to ensure better social mobility,” he said.

When asked what he would meant in terms of helping rural people gain access to better education.

“Take, for instance, Manik Urai. This is a place that is different from Kajang and Damansara in terms of access to facilities,” he said.

“Hence, the government has to intervene by helping the people with transport to school and tuition as well as more teachers.”

He said these are practical issues that can be resolved by better government intervention. – April 13, 2021.