AMID wild accusations that the DAP is instrumental in dictating the direction of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, the party’s retired supremo Lim Kit Siang has hit back by denying that he has ever proposed any candidate for high office to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad when he was prime minister (PM) in the 22 months PH was in power.
Citing an example, the veteran lawmaker who called it quit after a political career spanning 57 years said he has only approved the appointments of Tan Sri Tommy Thomas as attorney-general (AG) and Tun Richard Malanjum as Chief Justice “but I have never proposed any candidate for high office to Tun Mahathir”.
“The assurance by (PH chairman) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that the DAP would not be in control of PH if the coalition under his watch wins the coming polls shows both the degree of toxic politics of race and religion which had been disseminated in the current GE15 campaign and the likelihood that Anwar will be the 10th PM of Malaysia,” lamented the incumbent Iskandar Puteri MP.
Addressing the claim by PAS president Tan Sri Hadi Awang that DAP tried to remove the special position of Islam as well as the privileges of the Malays and Bumiputera by pushing for the ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) in the early months of PH government in 2018, Kit Siang explained:
“The) actual fact (is) DAP Ministers and leaders were completely surprised by the then PM Tun Mahathir’s speech on the proposed ratification of ICERD at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2018.
“This has been collaborated by the then Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdulah who blamed (former Minister in the PM’s Department in-charge of National Unity and Social Well-Being) P. Waytha Moorthy as the ‘lead’ minister handling ICERD in 2018. This has been denied by the latter but the truth has yet to be fully revealed.
“But the issue of the ICERD ratification in 2018 is about truth and lies. Should political leaders be disseminating lies, untruths and false information?”
Kit Siang also expressed regret that the current situation is a reflection of the challenges of information age whereby lies, fake news and disinformation abound.
“… that I was accused in non-Malay areas as a puppet of Mahathir in those 22 months of PH government while Mahathir was accused of being my puppet in Malay circles. There is no truth in these lies for both Mahathir and I are nobody’s puppet,” insisted the incumbent Iskandar Puteri MP.
Kit Siang went on to deny that DAP was “dominant” in the 22-month PH government given the party was overshadowed in PH’s cabinet of 28 ministers whereby PKR had seven ministers, Bersatu (six), DAP (six), Amanah (five), Warisan (three) and the Malaysian Advancement Party (MAP) (one).
“The DAP had never aspired to have a Chinese or non-Malay PM although the Malaysian Constitution states very explicitly that any Malaysian can be a PM,” he asserted.
“UK is having an ethnic Indian PM in Rishi Sunak and even the US has taken 200 years for Barack Obama to be the first black president, but I do not expect to see a non-Malay PM in Malaysia in this century.”
He added: “What else are the cybertroopers and propagandists of hate, lies and falsehood incapable of cooking up?” – Nov 5, 2022
