BN component parties split over meaning of ‘unity government’

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid and Debra Chong - The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 – Their boss may be selling the 1 Malaysia concept but other Barisan leaders have many different ideas about his take on unity.

In response to the prime minister’s call to PAS to reconsider unity talks for the sake of Malay-Muslim unity, MCA leaders said any talk about unity should be based on national and not racial interests.

But some MIC leaders believe that there is nothing wrong with Najib’s and Umno’s intentions, arguing that unity among the majority race is integral in ensuring the country’s growth.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday seemed to resuscitate the whole unity government idea when he called on the Islamist party to forget their political differences and co-operate with Umno in the name of Malay-Muslim unity.

Umno has, however, rejected any notion of a multi-racial Pakatan Rakyat(PR)-Barisan Nasional (BN) unity government, saying that it was interested in engaging only with PAS, sparking concerns among its non-Malay allies.

MCA leaders like Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, the party’s vice president, did not want to comment on Najib’s statement but said that any form of unity talks should be based on pluralism.

Liow, who is also the Health Minister, said the unity government concept itself, first proposed by a faction in PAS, is vague, and unclear as to whether the unity government idea involved only PAS and Umno, or the entire PR-BN lot.

Backing him is Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong, the MCA Youth chief, who said that his party had never thought of engaging rivals, the DAP, about Chinese unity.

“What for? I believe MCA’s stand about this is clear from the beginning. Any engagement with any quarters should be of national and not racial interest,” he told The Malaysian Insider in Parliament today.

But as far as MIC is concerned, the racial undertone in the unity government idea is not something to be worried about.

Its information chief, Datuk M. Saravanan, said the country is not prepared for national unity given its young age, arguing that unity among the majority race superceded other issues.

“I totally agree with Najib. It is important for the majority to be united and the minority divided as the majority is at the forefront of the country’s development,” he said.

For Saravanan, a deputy Federal Territories minister, the country is not ready for a Bangsa Malaysia (Malaysian race).

Meanwhile, Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum, the Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) MP for Julau, is fully supportive of Najib’s calls for Malay and Muslim unity to pave the way for 1 Malaysia.

“My view is that there is nothing wrong with any group wanting to be united,” Salang told The Malaysian Insider today.

“What we are against is if they unite to suppress others,” he added.

He disagrees with Lim Kit Siang’s view that Malay-Muslim unity talks between Umno and PAS, if it takes place, will stunt Najib’s goal of closing the growing gap among the different races and religious groups.

The PRS information chief said that for national unity to happen, the people within the same religious and ethnic groups must first be united.