MALAYSIAN politics have fallen to a new low when political leaders from the Opposition make preposterous allegations about Islamophobia and Malaysians selling organs to survive with no respect for the integrity of information or the truth.
PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang made the wild and preposterous allegation that the DAP was promoting Islamophobia but despite being repeatedly challenged, he has not been able for five months to offer an iota of evidence to substantiate his most serious allegation.
Hadi was the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to the Middle East for two “backdoor” Prime Ministers, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri, but he seemed to be unaware that the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) has an Islamophobia Observatory since 2007, which monitors Islamophobia worldwide and issues an annual report on Islamophobia but he had never submitted any reports of Islamophobia in Malaysia to the OIC Islamophobia Observatory!
The Bersatu Youth leader Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal made the serious allegation that there are people selling their kidneys to make ends meet, but when challenged to substantiate his allegation, he meekly said his allegation was based on posts from Facebook groups and it was up to the authorities to investigate the truth or otherwise of his allegation.
At a time when the world is awash with lies, falsehoods and fake news and when political leaders should lead the charge to clean up the social media and information landscape, it is most deplorable that there are Malaysian political leaders who have no compunction to add to the lies, falsehoods and fake news to further their own political ends and to polarise race and religious relations in plural Malaysia.
In Scotland, an ethnic Pakistani has become the first minister and leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party.
In the United Kingdom, an ethnic Indian is the Prime Minister and leader of the British Conservative Party. But in Malaysia, we seem to be going backwards, with voices screaming that the Malays have lost political and economic control of Malaysia.
I was taken aback yesterday (April 7) when I saw a Tik Tok message alleging that I am related to Chin Peng, Lee Kuan Yew, Tony Pua Kiam Wee, Teresa Kok Suh Sim, Anthony Loke Siew Fook, Nga Kor Ming and Ngeh Koo Ham with the wording: “kalau betul mereka ini keturunan komunis kenapa di bagi jawatan dalam kerajaan”.
There is no truth whatsoever in the allegations that I am related to Chin Peng and Lee Kuan Yew, and I never knew Pua, Kok, Loke, Nga or Ngeh until they joined the DAP a few decades after my first involvement in the DAP.
These were lies and falsehoods calculated to defame me when I was active in politics for over half a century, but I thought that since my retirement from frontline politics in March last year, these lies and falsehoods would cease.
However, the perpetrators of lies and falsehoods have respect for the integrity of information or truth and are only interested in misleading the largest number of people to create national disunity by polarising race and religious relations in plural Malaysia.
But it is most unfortunate that we have political leaders who have equally no respect for the integrity of information or the truth, and these political leaders should be exposed. — April 8, 2023
Veteran lawmaker and retired DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang is the incumbent MP for Iskandar Puteri.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
