Pua went 'too far' with school board but right to condemn Najib - Kit Siang

JOHOR POLLS | DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang has admonished his party colleague Tony Pua over his call for the sacking of the Foon Yew High School board of governors, saying that the latter had gone “too far”.

Nonetheless Lim, in a statement today, said the Damansara MP was correct to condemn former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak for using the school to try to cover up his past actions.

"Pua (above) has gone too far in attacking the Foon Yew school board of governors but he was right in condemning Najib Razak in using Foon Yew to exculpate his kleptocracy.

"For the last few days, I have been saying that Umno has forced the holding of the Johor election on March 12, 2022, not to defend the lives and livelihoods of the people, but to force the early holding of the 15th general election to enable Najib to return as the 10th or 11th prime minister of Malaysia," he said.

Former premier Najib Abdul Razak at the Foon Yew High School

Lim was commenting on the war of words that has erupted between Pua and Najib after Pua called for the leadership of Foon Yew High School to be sacked for welcoming Najib, who has been convicted of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering, to its Seri Alam campus and allowed him to deliver a speech.

Najib had, in turn, accused Pua of “assaulting” the school, calling it vengeance and a form of intimidation politics.

Najib is appealing his 12-year jail conviction and RM210 million fine at the Federal Court.

This morning Pua told the ex-premier not to “flatter himself” and claimed he was speaking up to protect the moral fibre of the next generation.

"Our schools need to teach our children that crooks like you must go to jail and cannot be tolerated," he said.

Campaigning so hard

Lim said while none of the Umno "court cluster” is a candidate in the Johor polls, they were calling the shots as they want an early general election so that they can escape punishment.

DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang

"This is why Najib, the other protagonist in the 1MDB scandal, is campaigning so hard in the Johor election to spread his message of ‘Apa Malunya Bossku’, promoting the immoral concept that political leaders need not have moral standards of honesty, probity and accountability.

"For the first time in the 65-year history of elections in Malaysia, we are having an election where a major political party is elevating ‘shamelessness’ as a public good," he said.

Lim also called on Johor voters to take heed of developments in the ongoing criminal trial of Malaysian banker Roger Ng for corruption in the billion-dollar 1MDB scandal.

Campaigning for the Johor polls kicked off on Saturday. Johoreans will go to the polls on March 12. - Mkini