A Barisan Alternatif component party has challenged Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to expose the groups who have questioned Malay special rights.

Parti Rakyat Malaysia president Dr Syed Husin Ali said that Mahathir should identify the groups who questioned Bahasa Malaysia as the official language, Islam as the official religion and the King as the constitutional monarch of the country.

"If they exist, who are they and what have they done?" queried the opposition leader in a press statement today.

"He (Mahathir) must also explain why his government has been unsuccessful in defending the constitution from being challenged by these groups that he mentioned," he added.

Yesterday, Mahathir said in Putrajaya that the Malay Unity talks with PAS was to establish a common ground to protect Malay special rights, Islam as the national religion and Bahasa Malaysia as the national language.

He insisted that the proposed talks had nothing to do with getting PAS to join Umno or the Barisan Nasional but said that another aspect which needed to be upheld was the position of Malay Rulers as Constitutional monarchs.

He added that certain quarters had been making attempts to challenge the special position of the Malays, possibly because they perceive the Malays to be politically split and lacking a common stand.

Mahathir, who is also Umno president, pointed out that the threats were not coming from BN component parties but 'other groups'.

Racist

Syed Husin said Mahathir is desperate because Umno is losing support although the state-owned media have highlighted several incidents related to attempts to question Malay special rights.

He added that the Umno president may be having doubts about the proposed talks actually taking place and had raised the issue of Malay special rights again to prove that Umno is the champion of the Malay cause.

"We see that Mahathir continues to use the excuse of Malay unity talks to strengthen his position among the Malays," said Syed Husin.

"He (Mahathir) talks and acts like a racist. We'd like to remind him that no matter what he does, he will never be able to win back the support of the Malays," he added.

Syed Husin said that if Mahathir succeeded in meeting PAS president and opposition leader Fadzil Noor, he could use that as a basis to promote himself as the champion and defender of Malay special rights.

Replying to a question by reporters yesterday, Mahathir denied that the unity talk was proposed because Umno was in a weak position.

Although he admitted that there was erosion of support, he insisted that the party was generally still very strong.