Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad believes that 2014 will be a tough year for Malaysia and wants non-Malays to support BN in order to help the federal government weather the storm.
 
Mahathir, who was very popular with non-Malays during his 22-years tenure as premier, said that with stability, the country could face all challenges and prosper.
 
He said that a strong government is necessary as the country cannot afford having a minority government. 
 
“Perhaps some adjustments should be made to the sharing formula. But there should be no threats, no holding others to ransom by any race. Any attempt to do so would kill the effort.
 
“For more than 50 years the sharing formula brought development and prosperity. The whole world acknowledges this. 
 
“The opposition will deny this of course but then they need to denounce all Malaysia’s achievements since they wish to have one dominant race enjoy the political power and economic wealth,” he wrote.

Non-Malays reject power sharing
 
Mahathir said that the opposition merely wanted to destroy the power sharing concept espoused by BN as they see the possibility of a single race dominating politics in the country.
 
“They dangle this bait before the Chinese in the 2013 elections. This resulted in wholesale desertion of Chinese voters from the BN coalition to basically the DAP.
 
“Fortunately the majority of Malays adhered to the sharing concept espoused by the BN.  Despite this desertion the BN won, but won with a much thinner majority,” he said.
 
He claimed that unlike the Malays and other indigenous communities, the non-Malays have rejected the concept of inter-racial power sharing.

The former premier who said this in his latest blog posting titled 'Multiracial Malaysia', which also stated that Malaysians cannot afford to be divided as history has shown that countries where people speak different languages, have different cultures and practice different religions have trouble keeping peace.
 
Rely on each other
 
He said that Malaysia had managed to remain peaceful and stable because its people believed in sharing political power and wealth.
 
The Malays, he said, must remember that they cannot rule and proper in this country on their own.
 
“They need the dynamism and business skills of the Chinese. They need also the professional skills of the Indians. 
 
“Similarly with the Chinese and Indians must also realise they need Malay support if they wish to form a government in Malaysia. 
 
“And Malay support will not be forthcoming if the Chinese and Indians are not prepared to share and share fairly political power and economic wealth,” he said.
 
In view of this and the racial voting patterns of the 13th general election, Mahathir hoped that those who deserted BN would support the coalition again.