Media
Statement by M Kula Segaran, MP for Ipoh Barat and DAP National Vice Chairman
in Ipoh on November 26, 2013
Will National Unity Consultative
Council become a talk shop?
Yesterday, when launching the
National Unity Consultative Council, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak
listed seven tips for the newly established National Unity Consultative
Council, including organising programmes that transcend race and religion.
The Prime Minister revealed that the
government had organised a 'durian fest' after the May 13 racial riots to unite
the people and suggested that the council look into organising environment,
health and sports related programmes for the very same reason.
While I agree that more unity
progarmmes should be organized to bring about more interactions among the
different races, such aspect can be left to the Unity Department to discuss and
implement.
The Unity Council should be given
the freedom and responsibility to carry out the bigger task of reviewing
government policies which have caused disunity among the people and to
recommend the necessary changes.
It cannot be denied that there are
many factors which can cause disunity in a multi racial and multi religious
country like Malaysia; however, a government policy is a most significant
factor.
Najib mentioned yesterday that
national unity will emerge once Malaysians stop seeing each others through the
lens of race or religion. Yet even though the nation has achieved independence
for more than 4 decades, the BN government is still keeping and implementing
various race based policies.
Change must come from the government
and unless the government is prepared to make bold changes, many Malaysians
will see his call as only “cakap syok”.
Can Najib therefore declare that the
government is prepared to accept good policy recommendations made by the Unity
Council if the recommendations are good for national unity though they are in conflict with government’s decisions
and policies?
I will give an example here.
“The
Ministry of Home Affairs and the Government of Malaysia should take necessary
steps to secure immediately the right to freedom of opinion and expression of
Herald – The Catholic Weekly and withdraw unconditionally from further
litigation on this issue,” the UN expert said in a press release issued by the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) .
If the Unity Council agrees with the
UN experts’ views, will the government accept the Council’s recommendation?
Or will it be a case where the
Council can discuss anything behind closed doors but the government will only
accept what it wants to accept, just
like how it has treated the good
recommendations made by the Royal Commission of Inquiry headed by headed by former
Lord President Tun Dzaiddin?.
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