Kota Kinabalu: Democratic Action Party (DAP) said 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the formation of Malaysia but the Kadazandusun and Dayak communities are still among the marginalised groups and communities in the country, mostly left out from the mainstream of national development.Its Advisor, Lim Kit Siang, said in the context of a new-found sense of empowerment by all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, class, gender or age, they have a right to determine their own future and those of their children and children's children.
Hence, the Tadau Kaamatan and Hari Gawai this year have taken on special meaning, he said, because the country would be holding its 13th General Election.
"The election would decide whether Malaysia is ready to take her place as one of the normal democracies in the world where power transition at the national level is determined through the ballot box and accepted as part and parcel of the parliamentary democratic process," he said in a statement.
The general perception, he said, is that the General Election would fall in June.
However, all political calculations have to be reworked after the unprecedented support for the Bersih 3.0 rallies in the streets of Kuala Lumpur and by tens of thousands of Malaysians in over 80 cities across the globe, he said.
He said this leaves the month of June out for General Election, leaving July and September as the most likely months.
Lim said the spontaneous outpouring of support for the Bersih campaign for a clean election caught the Federal Government by surprise because the intelligence it received was that Bersih 3.0 had little traction with the people.
He said they thought that Bersih's rallies could not muster more than 50,000 people.
"Former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is increasingly calling the shots in the three-year Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak premiership, has warned Najib not to hold the federal polls now," he said, suggesting that the best time for Najib to hold the election after the Aidilfitri celebration.
"Public support for Bersih 2.0 on July 9 last year and Bersih 3.0 on April 28, he said, showed that Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region, class, gender or age have awakened to their citizenship rights giving them a new sense of empowerment.
