Not just over 60% of grass roots in Gerakan but also over 60% of the membership in MCA, MIC and over 80% of Sabah and Sarawak component parties would want their parties to leave Barisan Nasional, according to the opposition Democratic Action Party.

DAP parliamentary leader, Lim Kit Siang, said this response to Gerakan acting president Dr. Koh Tsu Koon opinion that at least 60 per cent of the grass roots in Gerakan want the party to leave Barisan Nasional (BN) to be "relieved of the heavy emotional burden of BN".

Lim said this is because the UMNO putra leadership has proved to be insensitive, blind and deaf to the legitimate aspirations of all Malaysians, including ordinary Malays.

"I dare say that if given the opportunity to voice out, it is not just over 60 per cent of the grass roots in Gerakan but also over 60 per cent of the membership in MCA and MIC would want their parties to leave Barisan Nasional – and the percentage will be even higher for the Barisan Nasional component parties in Sabah and Sarawak, even exceeding 80%, " Lim said Sunday (28 Sept) at a ceramah in Serdang, Selangor.

Lim said the UMNO putra leadership, despite the major blow suffered by UMNO political hegemony in the March 8 general election by a multi-racial and multi-religious Pakatan Rakyat, has proved to be utterly insensitive, blind and deaf to the legitimate aspirations of all Malaysians, including ordinary Malays.

Although the Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, had immediately declared after the March 8 "political tsunami" that he had finally heard the message from the voters and would deliver the many reform pledges which he had failed to implement, things have gone from bad to worse with the widening and deepening of the multiple crisis of confidence in the country in the past seven months, he added.

Lim also highlighted the worsening multiple crises of confidence. For instance, he said the 2008 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development World Investment Report that Malaysia's foreign direct investment outflows surpassed inflows last year - outflows surged by 82 per cent from 2006 to RM38 billion compared to inflows of RM29 billion, up 39 per cent. According to Hle Broking Research, foreign investors are exiting the country "at a worrying rate", totaling RM125 billion for the first half of 2008.

The plunge in the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index from an all-time high of 1,524 points in January to 1,157 shortly after the March general election, to a two-year low of 963 on September 18.

Lim also cited the 10-placing plunge in Malaysia's ranking in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index during the five-year premiership of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi from No. 37 in 2003 to No. 47 in 2008;

The recent gross abuse of the Internal Security Act in the arbitrary arrests of Sin Chew reporter, Tan Hoon Cheng, DAP MP and Senior Exco Teresa Kok (both since released) and blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin and the continued detention of the Hindraf Five and other ISA detainees.

"Malay chauvinism and communalism rearing their ugly heads – evidenced by the emphasis on ketuanan Melayu in direct conflict with the Vision 2020 objective of Bangsa Malaysia, which should focus on ketuanan rakyat Malaysia and the furore over Ahmad Ismail's 'penumpang' speech at the Permatang Pauh by-election," Lim said. (MySinchew)