SHAH ALAM, 20 Jan: Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Leaders are deplored of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s actions of continuing to consider the issue of the rising prices of goods as ‘trivial’ although various times being advised by Barisan Nasional (BN) itself.
The Vice President of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Tian Chua, said that although the anger of the people can clearly be seen, the issue of racism has once again been used to divert the people’s attention.
He said that this concern is being voiced to avoid unwanted incidents from happening.
“I think that this matter is quite serious and there have been several BN leaders who have advised on the issue. Unfortunately, our Prime Minister is still taking lightly this price increase and seems to consider this as the kangkung (water spinach) issue.
“Not just that. When the people are angry, he did not take the matter seriously and instead tried to divert the issue with the issue of racism. This is an irresponsible action and is deliberately triggering the issue racism,” he told Selangor Kini today.
Newspaper reports yesterday quoted the Chief Minister of Kedah, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, expressing worry that policies “are right but not popular” in dealing with problems, especially with the people’s rising cost of living and this will cause the collapse of the existing government in the next general election.
Mukhriz said that the government must listen to the grievances of the people who gave victory to BN and fears that they regret that ‘the party they supported is not concerned and does not care about voiced from the grassroots’.
In relation to that, Tian Chua, on 18 January, also expressed regret regarding the assembly to defend Najib’s image was done by spreading messages of racism which may threaten the existing peace.
He stressed that the police should investigate the matter without bias.
“The message (assembly) had elements of racism and incitement. But it looks like the police have not taken any action.
“This is a ‘double standard’ attitude because no action is taken on issues such as this when raised by BN, with posters of threats,” he said.
Prior to this, Najib, in a ceremony, lashed out on the people who refused to thank the government when the current price of kangkung has gone down.
However the matter has been made a mockery and joke on social networking sites in Malaysia, so much so that it has attracted international media regarding the matter.