SEREMBAN, April 4 — The country needs a new political ‘potion’ that places public interest above the party’s and not a concept based on a political party’s dominance over the others, says veteran politician Tan Sri Dr Rais Yatim.
He said such dominance could create a ‘dangerous’ situation amid the country’s political developments which could eventually see public interest being ignored.
“When we are the dominant party, we will dominate. We cannot dominate people, only the law can and we must follow what the law says.
“Hence, there’s no need for any political party to be the dominant one despite having millions of members. In fact, the bigger our membership is, the more accommodating we should be and more respect we should have for the law.”
He said this to reporters after opening the meeting of the Malaysian Government Pensioners Association, Seremban branch, here, today.
Rais said a leader should not be too long in the position during a ruling government’s administration but to give the opportunity to new faces to lead and not be arrogant when at the top.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said no quarters could claim that their political party was the most dominant and more entitled to lead the country while underrating the role of the other parties, besides describing this as old politics.
Meanwhile, Rais who is also the Dewan Negara president, described Muhyiddin’s action of forming a large coalition of political parties as an excellent concept that should be well accepted.
The Jelebu division Bersatu chief also said that every political party leader should have love for the country and come up with ideas that could unite its various races.
“Bersatu, for example, has a non-Bumiputera wing while PAS has a non-Muslim wing, which is a positive development, so our non-Malay friends and others should not worry seeing such a development,” he added.
