Is opposing Hitler wrong?
By Shannon TeohApril 26, 2011KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 — Lim Guan Eng hit back today at Utusan Malaysia for accusing him of saying Malaysia was built on Adolf Hitler’s ideas of racial supremacy, asking if the Umno-owned newspaper thought that it was wrong to oppose the Nazi leader.
The DAP secretary-general added that any form of racial dominance and supremacy would be Hitlerian and those that supported such ideas “have turned the constitution on its head.”
“So even opposing Hitler is wrong?” Lim he said.
The Malay daily continued its attacks on DAP today with a report that the Penang chief minister had implied in his Easter message on Sunday that the country practiced racial supremacy in the way Nazi Germany did under Hitler in the 1940s.
It based the article on a Minda Intelek Melayu (MiM) blog posting that accused Lim (picture) of sedition and trying to fan racial sentiment.
The blog said that it cannot be true that the country was built on Hitler’s ideas as other races were more successful than Malays and Bumiputeras.
The segment that the blog had taken offence with in Lim’s Easter message was:
“We should move away from the mindtrap of fear based on hate, racism, extremism. We should not be taught to fear diversity. We should not be brainwashed with Hitlerian ideas that one is superior to another merely because of the colour of our skin.”
The Bagan MP said today that “all forms of racial dominance and supremacy was Hitlerian” and not in line with Malaysia’s constitution that is the basis of a country built on democracy, peace and justice.
He said that Malaysia was not built on Hitler’s ideas but that “some want to turn the constitution on its head to support the idea of racial dominance.”
Utusan Malaysia launched a series of attacks against DAP after it doubled its representation in the Sarawak state assembly in the April 16 polls.
The vote saw DAP make a near-clean sweep of the state’s Chinese-majority urban seats while votes from the non-Chinese Bumiputera community increased significantly for Pakatan Rakyat.
As a result, DAP won 12 seats while PKR won three seats, giving the Pakatan Rakyat pact a historic15 seats in the 71-seat assembly.
Umno and its supporters are said to be growing hot under the collar over the swing of urban support to the opposition and Utusan Malaysia immediately moved to accuse DAP of banking on race rhetoric to secure the Chinese vote.
The daily also urged Umno to spearhead a “1 Melayu, 1 Bumi” movement to protect Malay unity, claiming that DAP was intent on unseating the country’s Malay political leadership.
While the idea has been shot down by Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Malay rights group Perkasa — often described as an Umno offshoot — pledged to take up the challenge.
