Dr M: Kit Siang can be PM only if Malays want him

The Malays are the ultimate decision makers on whether DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang can be prime minister, said Parti Pribumi Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

At a ceramah in Balik Pulau, Penang last night, Mahathir said that for now, it was impossible for Lim to be prime minister because DAP was a "small party".

"There are talks that if Umno falls, Lim will be prime minister," Mahathir told the 1,500 strong crowd at the Bersatu organised ceramah.

"(But) DAP is only a small party and (his premiership) can only happen if Malays want it."

Of late, the Umno narrative has focussed on the fact that DAP was the de facto leader of the opposition because the party has the most number of seats in the Dewan Rakyat.

However, Pakatan Harapan and Bersatu have been consistently claiming that they are equals in their partnership while Lim had publicly stated that he had never harboured ambitions of being prime minister.

Of thief and robbers

DAP's secular policies and Chinese support base has been the main ammunition of Umno when attacking the opposition in front of the Malay masses.

Meanwhile, Mahathir told the mostly Malay crowd that if they were serious in "saving" the Malay race, they must support Bersatu to replace Umno in government.

Mahathir spent most of his 40-minute speech criticising Prime Minister Najib Razak, repeatedly mentioning innuendoes such as "thief" and "robbers", to which the crowd would respond with "arrest him!".

"But how can we catch him? The police doesn't want to. The prosecutors will say he did nothing wrong," said Mahathir.

He assured his audience that the opposition coalition has a concrete plan in place to "Save Malaysia", recover "stolen" money and put the economy back on track.

"How are we going to do it? We catch him lah and make him return all the money," said Mahathir, without elaborating on actual policies.

He also apologised to the audience for helping pave way for Najib to become prime minister.

"I guess I'm not very smart. I am always cheated," he quipped.- Mkini