COMMENT By threatening to revoke the citizenship of Ambiga Sreevaasan, former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad continues his tirade and insults all Indian Malaysians. Earlier, Mahathir irked Malaysians when he was caught denying his alleged key role for 20 years in the illegal issuing of blue ICs and granting voting rights to illegal immigrants to Sabah.

To divert attention from and to justify his illegal act, he accused first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman of giving out citizenship to one million legal residents of Malaya. To Mahathir, Umno makes the law and everybody else should just follow, regardless of how unjust the law could be. 

Historically, one million Chinese and Indians were offered citizenship as a precondition to independence by the Alliance government of Malaya in 1957 to develop this blessed nation and the Chinese and Indian Malaysians sacrificed and slogged with blood and sweat to build the economy of this nation.

Ungrateful Mahathir and his hardline Umno/Perkasa followers have forgotten the contribution of non Malays to this country. Mahathir himself had once said that 90 percent of taxes are paid by non-Malays, especially Chinese. This same Mahathir allegedly once ordered shooting to deter the coming of Vietnamese boat people.

NONEMahathir allegedly allowed illegals from Pakistan, the Philippines, Indonesian and even Indian Muslims get citizenship overnight. However, about 300,000 Malaysian-born Indians and Chinese are awaiting blue identity cards which Mahathir did not solve during his tenure as premier. 

In the October 2012 parliament sitting, the MP for Pasir Salak proposed that Ambiga should be hanged for committing treason against the king for organising Bersih 2.0 and Bersih 3.0. Umno leaders just could not accept the fact that Ambiga, an Indian Malaysian lady, could organise such mammoth gatherings that challenged the unjust, anti-national and subversive activities of Umno.

Malaysia will be ruined if BN regains a two-third majority as requested by Mahathir Mohamad.   

All Indians with dignity, pride and honour will never support the political parties that support Mahathir and his apartheid policy. Mahathir could justify and find nothing seditious when Ibrahim Ali urged his supporters to burn the Malay Bible. But he could not accept Ambiga’s appeal for clean and fair election and deems it treacherous.

Impotent and subservient

BN component parties MIC and MCA have become too impotent and subservient to stand up against the like of Mahathir and Umno hardliners’ chronic abuse of power.

Under Mahathir’s rule, lawyers allegedly fixed cases and cronies were the chosen people to obtain contracts and high positions. Responsible citizens like former auditor-general Ahmad Nordin and Lord President Salleh Abbas were removed for allegedly being a hindrance to Mahathir’s designs. Yet Umno continues to hero worship him.

If Mahathir has any respect for the rule of law, he must retract his statement and apologise to  Ambiga and the nation. Ambiga is a distinguished and honourable citizen who led a public awareness campaign on the urgent need for clean and fair elections, while Mahathir, on the other hand, keeps spewing venom and racially instigating statements to divide the country with race and religion.

Mahathir is the one who should be stripped of his citizenship for betraying all Malaysians by giving citizenship and instant bumiputera status to illegal and unqualified immigrants.

Not one MIC or MCA leader has come out to condemn Mahathir’s urging to strip Ambiga of her citizenship. No sensible, sane, thinking Malaysians will ever support BN in the 13th general election.
S RAMAKRISHNAN is a former senator.