“An important factor that might lead to calamity in our country is if the country’s income gap between poor and rich is too wide.
“That is why the federal government today is working hard to close this gap and ensure the wealth is evenly distributed among the people,” he said in his keynote address at the Premier Unity Gathering here today.
Mahathir said closing this income gap would also prevent labelling a certain race as being more prosperous than others, a situation which he said was “dangerous”.
He was happy Malaysia had enjoyed peace and harmony among its many races since Merdeka.
Mahathir recalled how the leaders from each race had worked together to engineer the country’s independence from the British in 1957.
He said the situation in Malaysia was different from that in African and Pacific Ocean nations which are often plagued with riots and clashes between races.
He said closer to home, the ethnic Rohingyas were chased out from Myanmar “in a cruel way”.
He said he was glad that Malaysia has bucked the trend in accepting people of different ethnic groups when countries like the US were not too happy letting people of different races emigrate to the country.
“We see in the US, Donald Trump is planning to build a wall to prevent people from (southern) America from entering. In Europe, we see many refugees, escaping strife in their countries, being turned away,” Mahathir said.
He said on the home front, Malaysians must continue to be united as the country gears to be a developed nation by 2025. During his previous tenure as prime minister, he had set 2020 as the year Malaysia would become a developed nation.
He called on all to learn more about other races by focusing on the Malay adage, “tak kenal maka tak cinta”. “Love one another,” he told Malaysians.
Mahathir also praised Penang for being a melting pot of cultures, witnessed by the coming together of 20 ethnic groups that welcomed him at Dewan Sri Pinang for the Premier Unity Gathering.
He said despite a change in government, the administration here had remained multiracial and the cooperation among races was strong, due to the years of the muhibbah (unity) spirit.
The gathering was hosted by the Penang Unity Consultative Council. Penang has declared Feb 8 as Unity Day. The day also commemorates the birthday of the late prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman.