FROM US: Wong (second left) and Malsiah (left) presenting a memento to Dr Mahathir (right) as Dr Annuar looks on.
SIBU: The concept of power sharing through Barisan Nasional (BN) is still the best for a multi-racial country like Malaysia.
Giving his thoughts on the matter, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said this had been proven since it was carried out by the first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Al-Haj.
“The coalition of Malay, Chinese and Indian political parties first known as Perikatan, then the Alliance and now the more inclusive BN has won elections after elections.
“They have also formed the governments at state and federal levels,” he said in his speech at an all-community dinner in conjunction with his one-day visit here on Wednesday.
Dr Mahathir was here at the invitation of Sibu Bumiputera Graduates Association (PGBS).
“Because of BN, Malaysia is very peaceful, united, stable and progressive,” he said.
He said some foreign leaders had told him Malaysia was not a developing but a developed nation.
Dr Mahathir added that the system of power sharing should be preserved in order for the country to achieve its vision of becoming a developed and industrialised nation by 2020.
Elaborating, he said the system too had ensured fair treatment for all the communities although there had been some unhappiness.
“Of course there is the unhappiness bit because no one, no one race or no one group can hope or expect to get 100 per cent of what they think is theirs by right. People should not believe in making demands which cannot be met or through confrontation. This can cause tensions and fighting which can jeopardise the progress we have gained so far,” he said.
He added that this ‘little bit of unhappiness’ is a characteristic of a society that is fair to everyone.
On wealth, Dr Mahathir said it was the policy of the federal government to share the country’s wealth among all states. He said the country’s wealth was in its oil and gas in offshore areas in states like Sabah, Sarawak, and Terengganu and hopefully in Kelantan.
“The wealth is also in the oil palm, rubber and pepper industries.
“But our wealth also comes from the many giant businesses centred in Kuala Lumpur. There are many very rich people in Kuala Lumpur. Our system is such that the richer you are, the more the government taxes you,” he said.
Kuala Lumpur, he said, had all the advantages such as superior communication and travel facilities as well as those that help people conduct very big businesses, with quite a number of people from Sarawak involved there.
Dr Mahathir further said proceeds from the wealth and taxes were then re-distributed by the federal government so that even small states like Perlis could have enough finance to do their own development programmes.
Minister of Local Government and Community Development Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh, his wife Datin Sri Pauline Leong, Assistant Minister of Land Development Datuk Abdul Wahab Aziz, Sibu Resident Sim Kok Kee, Nangka assemblyman Dr Annuar Rapa’ee, Tamin assemblyman Joseph Mauh Ikeh, Temenggong Datuk Wan Hamid Edruce and PGBS chairman Malsiah Jamal were among those present.