KUALA LUMPUR: The Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong) has hoped that the six new state governments would appoint exco members of various races in their soon-to-be-formed state executive councils.
Urging this, Huazong President Tan Sri T.C Goh said this is important, in order to better reflect the nation’s multiracial setup, and to better attend to various issues affecting various races in the six states.
He also congratulated the newly-appointed Menteri Besars of the five states, namely Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Terengganu, Kelantan, and the Chief Minister of Penang, Chow Kon Yeow of Penang, who is the sole Chinese Chief Minister in the country. He especially believes under Chow’s capable and open-minded leadership, a multiracial Penang exco would be able to bring the state of Penang to greater heights.
While noting that the election results indicated that political parties from both sides of the divide seemed to be equally strong, Goh nonetheless expressed concern over the rise of race and religion dominance during the state elections, which he considers to have dealt a severe blow to Malaysia’s multiracial setup.
He however reminded that, whether the Federal government or the state governments, they must always respect the Federal Constitution and to practice moderation and adopt multiracial approach in their governance.
In a statement issued today, Goh who is also President of The Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS) said the outcomes of the recently-concluded six state elections indicated that both the ruling government and the opposition are equally strong, where both parties had each garnered close to 50% of the votes, besides successfully maintained their status quo in the six states.
He acknowledged that the election results would not affect the current position of the ‘unity government’ at the federal level, nor would it have any impact on the two Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak.
“Except that, the rise of race and religion dominance was rather worrisome!
“For example, the uttering of such inflammatory and misleading narratives like ‘single race ideology’, ‘non bumiputeras are immigrants’, ‘Chinese are rich’, ‘voting is a form of ‘jihad’’, and the used of ‘heaven and hell’ theory during the election campaigns, to win votes,” he said.
He reiterated that politicians should always conduct themselves more responsibly by respecting the nation’s multiracial setup, and to strictly refrain from exploiting race and religion issues to achieve their political agendas.
He said, with the dust of the state elections now settled, all quarters should immediately put a stop to extremism and political fights, and to give their best support and cooperation to ensure that the six state governments would implement policies which are truly effective and beneficial to the people.-pr/BNN
