By Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang
THE Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman and Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the PAS president Tan Sri Hadi Awang should explain why their wild and preposterous allegations that I was anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Rulers, cause of May 13, 1969 riot and a communist were not made in the first 35 years of my political life.
Why were they made in the last 20 years of my political life in the 21st century instead?
Can Muhyiddin explain why he approached me in a cloak-and-dagger fashion in a Kuala Lumpur hotel in 2016 to escape Special Branch vigilance by asking DAP to support him to become Prime Minister (PM) if I were anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Rulers, cause of May 13 riots and a communist?
Can Hadi explain why PAS co-operated with DAP twice – first time under Datuk Fadzil Nor’s leadership in the Barisan Alternative in the 1990s and the second time under Hadi’s leadership in Pakatan Rakyat (PR) since the 12th General Elections (GE12) until 2015 if the DAP was anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Rulers, cause of May 13 riots and a communist?
The 22-month Pakatan Harapan (PH) government was accused of being dominated by the DAP and the then PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was accused of being my puppet and stooge.
Would Dr Mahathir agree that the 22-month PH government from May 2018 to February 2020 was dominated by DAP and that during that period he was my puppet and stooge?
During that 22-month period, I was not even a member of Dr Mahahir’s cabinet and I never asked him to appoint anyone or carry out any particular policy.
The DAP leadership was completely in the dark about Dr Mahathir’s plan to announce at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in September 2018 that Malaysia was going to ratify the UN international covenants, including the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and the Rome Statute.
The then foreign minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah was the best witness that DAP knew nothing about the announcement.
Will Dr Mahathir now say that he made the announcement at the UN General Assembly in September 2018 on the instruction of the DAP?
There are two reasons why the wild and preposterous allegations that DAP was anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Rulers, cause of May 13 riots in Kuala Lumpur and communist were never made in the first 35 years of my political life.
Firstly, these allegations were lies; and secondly, the Malay political parties did not see the DAP as a threat to their Malay political base.
In the last 20 years of my political life, the Malay parties began to see the DAP as a threat to their Malay political base as there had been a sea change in political attitudes and thinking, and that more and more Malays are subscribing to the DAP ideology that Malaysia is for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, provided they are committed to be Malaysians.
We made a breakthrough in 1990 with Ahmad Nor elected as MP for Bayan Baru in 1990 although right from the 1969 general election, we have had Malay state assemblymen at the state level.
In the 2013 general election, there were two DAP Malay MPs – Zairil Khir Johari of Bukit Bendera and Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz of Raub. There was one Malay DAP Malay MP – Tengku Zulpuri Shah Raja Puji for Raub – in the 2018 general election who became a deputy minister and three DAP Malay MPs in the 2022 general election – Syahredzan Johan (Bangi), Young Syefura Othman (Bentong) and Syerleena Abdul Rashid (Bukit Bendera).
In the last 20 years, DAP is seen as a threat competing with Malay political parties for Malay support, and the demonisation of DAP as anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty, cause of May 13 riots in Kuala Lumpur and communist was a defence mechanism by the Malay parties to prevent the DAP from getting more Malay support.
But this is like King Canute and the tide and Aug 12 will be a test-case whether there can be political stability and national unity among Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region to make Malaysia the role model for the world for inter-ethnic, inter-religious, inter-cultural and inter-civilisation dialogue, understanding, tolerance and harmony. – Aug 6, 2023
Veteran lawmaker and retired DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang was Malaysia’s longest serving opposition leader (29 years on three separate occasions).
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
