Penang DAP treasurer and Komtar assemblyman Teh Lai Heng condemned former prime minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad for saying that “non-Malays holding on to their own culture will lead to division.”
He hoped that Mahathir could stop spewing divisive remarks as they are not conducive to our national unity.
“Mahathir’s method of trying to forcefully assimilate the non-malays by instructing them to abandon their original identity and culture is a selfish, outdated and short-sighted approach,” he said via a Facebook post.
He also said that Mahathir's statement contradicts the founding principles of Malaysia’s Constitution.
Teh stated that Mahathir’s way of thinking has always been stuck in the past, and that he is using outdated “colonialism” tactic to aggravate the different ethnic groups, sowing discontent between the malay and non Malaysia through the idealogy of "Ketuanan Melayu".
Teh believes that Malaysians should be proud of our country’s unique multiculturalism.
He stressed that since the nation’s independence, the Chinese community has embraced the belief that Malaysia is their home in every sense — from birth to death — and has made considerable contributions not only to the country's economy but also to various industries.
“Therefore, the remarks made by former prime minister Tun Mahathir have deeply hurt the Chinese community as this denies the contributions made by our forefathers and the Chinese community as a whole,” Teh said.
Mahathir recently remarked that Malaysia hurried into independence without fully weighing the long-term consequences of granting citizenship to non-Malays.
He also emphasized that whenever someone migrates to a new country, they should fully assimilate and become part of that country’s society by adopting the local language and local culture.
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