Kit Siang: Utusan is Muhyiddin’s voice against Najib

KUALA LUMPUR, April 25 — Lim Kit Siang rebuked Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today for saying Utusan Malaysia speaks for the Malay community, claiming instead that the deputy prime minister was using the paper to defy Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1 Malaysia.

The DAP strongman charged that Muhyiddin was “a picture of absurdity” for making his proclamation earlier today and described the statement as the latter’s “second unkind cut” against Najib.

He questioned if by endorsing Utusan Malaysia’s “1 Melayu, 1 Bumi” movement, the country’s administration was running on two separate idealogies — Najib with his 1 Malaysia platform and Muhyiddin with “1 Melayu, 1 Bumi”.

“Utusan Malaysia is not the voice of the Malays as right-thinking and rational Malays like right-thinking and rational Malaysians have been migrating away from Utusan Malaysia particularly to online media.

“But what should really cause consternation is that Utusan Malaysia is at best the voice of Muhyiddin particularly at odds with the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

“How can Muhyiddin give endorsement to Utusan Malaysia’s call for ‘1 Melayu, 1 Bumi’ when it is clearly an open affront and repudiation of Najib’s 1 Malaysia signature policy?” Lim asked in a statement today.

He questioned if Najib’s Cabinet was prepared to resolve the apparent conflict between the country’s top two leaders, or if the prime minister dared to wield his power and force Muhyiddin into line.

“Or will all the Cabinet ministers from Umno, MCA, MIC, Gerakan, SUPP and the other Sarawak and Sabah component parties dig their heads deeper into the sand to pretend that they are not aware of such open policy conflict between the prime minister and the deputy prime minister — between 1 Malaysia and 1 Melayu?” Lim said.

He challenged Muhyiddin’s claim that Utusan Malaysia represented the voice of the Malay community, insisting the daily often stoked communal hatred and tension.

Utusan Malaysia ruffled feathers recently when it suggested that Umno spearhead a “1 Melayu, 1 Bumi” movement to protect Malay unity, claiming g the just-concluded Sarawak polls showed DAP was attempting to destroy the country’s Malay leadership.

In response, MCA called for a boycott on the Umno-owned newspaper, warning that such a movement could lead to apartheid in Malay-majority Malaysia.

Speaking on the issue today, Muhyiddin refrained from condemning the paper for propagating the movement, saying instead that the government could not stop the newspaper from reporting the news.

“It is the voice and desire of the Malay community and also Malaysians in general. If we read Utusan, we can see that there are also reports on other things.

“Just like other media, there are pro and cons. We cannot stop a media from reporting what it wants to report but there is a limit,” he told a press conference.

In disagreeing with Muhyiddin, Lim called Utusan Malaysia’s editors a “disgrace” to journalism and accused them of doing the Malay race and Malaysia as a nation a disservice by playing up racial issues.

“If the police, the Attorney-Genereal’s Chambers and the judiciary are efficient, independent and professional institutions to uphold the rule of law without fear or favour, Utusan Malaysia editors would have no time to edit the Umno daily but would be trudging up and down the court houses over a mountain of criminal charges round-the-year!” he said.

Lim also reminded how National Union of Journalists (NUJ) president Hata Watahari, who is also a senior Utusan journalist, had himself condemned his paper’s editors for fanning race rhetoric and allegedly causing its declining sale.

“Utusan Malaysia nose-dived from one of the nation’s top circulation papers to a disreputable rag, falling from a height of a daily circulation of 350,000 to less than half the numbers — as Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) figures for the full year ended June 30, 2010 showed its circulation had dropped to 170,558 as compared to 181,346 the previous year,” Lim said.