PETALING JAYA: V Ganabatirau, DAP’s candidate for the Klang parliamentary seat in the coming general election, has called on voters to reject Barisan Nasional and PAS, saying they had used racial issues to undermine Pakatan Harapan (PH) when it was in power.
Ganabatirau said such issues included the death of firefighter Adib Kassim in a 2018 riot, and the proposed ratifications of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and the Rome Statute, which he called “planned attacks” against the PH government.
“As we are witnessing now, Adib’s death became a non-issue for the BN/PAS/Perikatan Nasional (PN) government. They failed to identify the real cause of his death and couldn’t close the case till today,” he said in a statement.
“They (also) made people believe that the Rome Statute will undermine our royal institution and will bring our royals to the international court. If this is true, why did the European Union (EU) sign the Rome Statute when they have royals in their countries, too?
“Again, all these issues were purposely played out by BN/PAS to throw out the democratically-elected PH government. These racial issues and discrimination will continue forever as long as BN (or) PAS becomes the government.”
He warned that such issues would be “intensified” if BN or PAS were in the opposition after GE15.
In 2019, Malaysia withdrew from ratifying ICERD following fears that it would affect the Federal Constitution in relation to the constitutional monarchy, Malay rights and the sanctity of Islam in the country.
The Rome Statute set up the International Criminal Court (ICC) which prosecutes those who commit international crimes, such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression. Ratifying it would mean Malaysia would accede to the ICC.
In September 2019, coroner Rofiah Mohamad ruled that “more than two unidentified persons” had killed Adib, who died after succumbing to injuries sustained during a riot outside the Sri Maha Mariamman temple in Subang Jaya.
Adib, 24, a member of the Subang Jaya fire and rescue station, was seriously injured in the riot on Nov 27, 2018, and died at the National Heart Institute on Dec 17 that year.
Ganabatirau’s statement was his first after he was announced as DAP’s candidate for the Klang seat in GE15 by the party last night.
He replaces three-term Klang MP Charles Santiago, who had been expected to be fielded again due to his widespread support from the area’s community and business leaders.