DAP the real 'top dog' in Harapan - Tengku Sariffuddin

It is now clear that DAP is the 'Top Dog' in Pakatan Harapan, with Lim Kit Siang as the de facto leader cleverly pulling the strings and dictating Harapan’s narrative and appearance, said press secretary to the prime minister, Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad.

Tengku Sariffuddin said it was an Ali Baba strategy where the frontman was Malay but the real power broker was behind the scenes.

"However, Malays today are beginning to detest this dirty tactic as it insults their intelligence. 

"Why are DAP and Kit Siang playing this trick? Because now that Anwar Ibrahim's influence on Pakatan (Harapan) is waning, they need a new Malay figure at the front to camouflage them," Tengku Sariffuddin said in a statement today.

He said that DAP and Lim knew very well that Malays would not support them outright. 

But instead of having faith in their existing partners like opposition leader Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail in PKR or Mohamad Sabu in Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), he said they chose to form a new pact with Parti Pribumi Melayu Bersatu (Bersatu) chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad, knowing fully well that the former prime minister would not contest in GE14 and that his party has only one seat in Parliament.

He said that DAP's decision to endorse Mahathir to lead Harapan was an insult to PKR and Amanah.

"DAP and Kit Siang attribute this decision to the experience and gravitas of Mahathir. But this is clearly hypocritical since the opposition parties launched the reformasi movement expressly against Mahathir," he said.

Tengku Sariffuddin said Lim was using his old nemesis and jailer to lead DAP’s charge into the Malay heartlands.

"This is why they are letting Mahathir do all the policy talking. The main aim of DAP is to win over Malay voters.

"For Kit Siang personally, the alliance with Mahathir is meant to erase his image as anti-Malay and anti-Islam. But what Kit Siang fails to understand is that the Malays can sense they are being used by DAP," he said.

Tengku Sariffuddin said it was no secret that a vote for Harapan was a vote for DAP, not PKR, Amanah or Bersatu. 

"DAP is the real power behind the opposition. However, DAP is now in a state of panic as they have realised that the Malays are aware of what is going on and that the real puppet master is Kit Siang," he added

-- Bernama