DAP parliamentary leader agrees with prime minister that 'fake news' must be stamped out, but chides Najib over 'DAP anti-Malay or anti-Muslim' claim at Umno general assembly.
SEBERANG PERAI: Taking the cue from Prime Minister Najib Razak who yesterday warned about fake news propagated against the Government of Malaysia, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang today lamented that he himself is a victim of the same phenomenon.
The Gelang Patah MP hit out at a PAS grassroots group in Selangor for exhibiting a banner bearing his face with the message “Enemy of Malays/Islam (Racist)”, calling it “another crude display of fake news and lies.”
The banner, along with a few more castigating various Pakatan Harapan and Parti Pribumi Bersatu leaders, was displayed when the group presented a memorandum to PAS information chief Nasrudin Hassan Tantawi in Kuala Lumpur yesterday to urge PAS to cut off ties with any party which has relations with DAP and Amanah.
“How can Nasruddin claim to represent a party committed to Islamic values and teachings when he could so blatantly be a party to such lies and fake news?” Lim said in a statement released today.
Lim also voiced support for Najib in the fight against the spread of fake news.
He however, stressed that his focus was not just on those using fake news in wanting to topple the government as emphasised by Najib, but also those wanting to cling on to power “although they have lost all credibility and legitimacy”.
Speaking in his parliamentary constituency of Pekan yesterday, Najib had called on people to fight “all out” against news, propaganda, false information and defamation, which he described as “fake news”, being spread on social media. He described this as “the greatest threat”.
Lim said there is nothing criminal or treasonous in wanting to topple the government in a parliamentary democracy, stressing it must be done through the democratic process, either by way of a no-confidence motion in parliament or through a general election.
Lim took Najib to task for declaring in his speech as Umno president during the party’s general assembly on Nov 29 last year that DAP is anti-Malay or anti-Islam.
Calling it “the spread of fake news”, Lim criticised Najib for also claiming that the next general election will be a contest between Umno and DAP, and that Malays will suffer “nightmares” if Umno loses power. -FMT
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