Assistant minister says for such a concept to work everybody must share same political ideology

KUCHING: Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Information Technology), Bolhassan Di, says the Barisan Nasional is not ready to form a single political party unless and until everybody shares the same political ideology.

He said this in response to a call by the president of People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Datuk M Kayveas for the BN to become a single political party.

Bolhassan said the country was ‘not ready’ for such a concept to really work until and unless everybody has the same level of intellect, economic and educational background.

“Maybe, in the next 20 years or more when people think alike, can we have such a concept here,” Bolhassan told reporters at his Hari Raya open house yesterday, which also saw the presence of the Head of State Tun Abang Muhammad Salahuddin and his wife Toh Puan Datuk Patinggi Norkiah as guests-of honour.

Kayveas had suggested in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday for the BN to become a single political party because race-based political parties were losing their relevance in the country.

Bolhassan said such concept should take time to realise. It could not be done overnight.

“Its a good thing to have but it is debatable in the Malaysian context … everybody can say this and that.”

He added that the present concept was still relevant to the country taking into consideration the needs of various races.

He said the BN parties were already under the BN umbrella, which was a form of merger taking into consideration the multi-racial needs. He also noted that Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) the backbone of the state BN was a multi-racial party with membership drawn from the various Muslim and non-Muslim Bumiputera groups in the state.

Kayveas had said that it was about time for BN to start talking about forming a single party, adding that there must be specific time frame to discuss the issue so that BN would become more relevant and had the support of all Malaysians.

“We have to change the mode of politics in Malaysia with the approach of one voice for all the people,” Kayveas was quoted as saying.