PETALING JAYA: DAP veteran Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang, who was accused of making provocative statements, will be meeting the police in the next few days to clarify the matter.
In a statement issued by Lim on Monday (Dec 11), he said he would meet the police on his remarks made to Malaysian students in Manchester at the end of last month, where he was accused of saying that the Malaysian Constitution provides that a non-Malay can become prime minister.
"There was no such intention," he said in his statement.
Explaining further, Lim said the Malaysian Constitution is a non-provocative document, the basis on which Malaysian unity must be founded.
"I believe one way for Umno to establish its relevance to the Malay race and the Malaysian nation is to return to original nation-building principles as championed by the first three prime ministers of Malaysia, who were also Umno Presidents - Tunku Abdul Rahman (Putra al-Haj), Tun (Abdul) Razak and Tun Hussein (Onn).
"I believe that Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein were not being provocative when they supported and provided in the Malayan and later the Malaysian Constitution that a non-Malay could become prime minister.
"I agree with commentators that at present, the statement is not a 'statement of reality'," he said.
Lim said in Manchester, he had taken examples of the United States to compare with Malaysia and affirmed that his statements were not provocative.
"This is why I said In Manchester. In the United States, it took 230 years for a Black American to become the President of the United States.
"I hope that Malaysia will not take 230 years for a non-Malay to become prime minister, but in the next 100 years, I do not expect this to happen.
Lim added that he was accused of wanting to be prime minister of Malaysia.
"This thought never entered my mind because under the present circumstances, it is not possible.
"We must have a situation where the majority of Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Dayaks, dream the Malaysian Dream and not a mono-ethnic dream.
"Why was it possible to provide in 1957 in the Malayan Constitution, and later in 1963, in the Malaysian Constitution, that a non-Malay could become prime minister and not be regarded as 'provocative', but six decades later, it is 'provocative' to explain what is in the Constitution?
"Was it wrong to say that the Malaysian Constitution, the Rukun Negara and Vision 2020 with its nine strategic challenges provide for a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural Malaysian Dream and not a mono-ethnic dream?
"No race or religion in Malaysia is facing an existential threat or extinction," he added.
Lim said as the Sultan of Selangor said in a recent interview, Malaysia is a melting pot of various cultures that has been preserved since Independence, and that the country must continue to defend its multi-cultural values and background, which remains one of the strengths that unite the country.
"The Sultan of Selangor said there are no pendatang in Malaysia as the Malay Rulers have accepted all, including the non-Malays, as citizens.
"Malaysia has the qualifications to be a role model to the world so let us all work for our country to rise up again as a world-class nation," he said.
