‘DO YOU THINK THE MALAYS WILL SIT QUIETLY WHEN ONE OF THEIR LAST RIGHTS IS QUESTIONED’: UMNO MOVES INTO DANGEROUS TERRITORY, ACCUSES MAHATHIR OF TRYING TO UPSTAGE THE AGONG, SULTANS WITH ‘GRAND’ RAYA OPEN HOUSE

GEORGE TOWN – Umno today trained its guns on Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Hari Raya open house, contrasting it to the lack of an open house at Istana Negara which it said might be a sign of royal displeasure with Pakatan Harapan.

Umno’s strategic communications team, in a statement today, asked whether Mahathir and his Cabinet were aware that the King’s decision to not hold a Hari Raya open house at Istana Negara this year was a sign he had taken offence with Pakatan Harapan allowing veteran newsman A Kadir Jasin and others to query the palace expenditure.

Saying such action was uncalled for, Umno said this raised a poser on whether there was some kind of provocation towards the royal institution by PH agents.

“Does PH hope that Malays will sit quietly when one of their remaining rights is questioned?

“How does Mahathir feel, holding such a large-scale open house for Raya when the PH government looks lightly at the tradition of the palace holding an open house?

“The PH government also appears to be rallying the people to not respect the sovereign leaders or hold in high regard the royal institution,” it said in a statement today.

Umno also hit out at Mahathir’s Hari Raya televised address last night. It said the speech reeked of politicking and was an attempt to incite the people to hate Barisan Nasional and Umno, and compared poorly with the King’s address which touched on the importance of defending the royal institution.

The former ruling party accused Mahathir of standing firmly behind lies about the size of the national debt and of continuing to spew hatred of the previous administration.

“He acts all holy, like a messenger of Allah, by touching on the purity of Aidilfitri and the teachings of Allah, but he himself espouses profound hatred towards BN and Umno.

“We are disappointed in what he has done. His address should have stressed on national unity, forgiving each other and happiness.

“Instead, he used it as an opportunity to blame the past government and praise the new PH government, which has only been in power for just over a month, as being perfect and that it will not make mistakes,” it said.

The party said acting Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had not touched on politics in his Raya address and instead stressed the importance of the festive period being used as a means to unite the ummah.

Kadir had recently revealed that some RM257 million was spent for the upkeep and personal expenditure of Sultan Muhammad V in the 16 months since he became the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

This led to a spat between the PPBM Supreme Council member and PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim. Anwar had stressed that respect and decorum must be maintained in expressing views about the royalty.

Kadir later quit his position as the head of communications for the Council of Eminent Persons.

– FMT