PMO: Utusan report on Dr M saying 'DAP decides leaders' wrong

The Prime Minister's Office has clarified that a Utusan Malaysia report on Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's recent speech in Kuala Terengganu was inaccurate.

In a statement to the daily, the PMO disputed two paragraphs in the report, published yesterday.

The first paragraph read: "DAP tentukan siapa pemimpin dan siapa akan pegang jawatan selepas berjaya ambil alih kerajaan, semuanya ini datang daripada DAP."

(DAP decides who will be the leader and who will hold positions after taking over the government. All this came from DAP)

According to the PMO, Mahathir did not mention the words "DAP tentukan siapa pemimpin" (DAP decides who will be the leader).

The second contentious paragraph read: "Saya tahu ada pendapat mengatakan DAP parti musuh, tapi saya nak bagi tahu bahawa yang tentukan saya akan jadi pengerusi PH dan bakal PM jika menang dalam PRU lalu adalah DAP."

(I know some consider DAP as the enemy. I want you to know that (the party that) made me the chairperson of Pakatan Harapan and prime ministerial candidate if we win the election was DAP)

According to the PMO, what Mahathir said was: "Saya tahu ada orang yang berpendapat bahawa parti DAP ini parti musuh, musuh orang Melayu. Semua orang Melayu dibagitahu oleh Umno bahawa parti DAP ini adalah musuh. Tapi saya nak bagitahu yang cadang saya jadi pengerusi dan saya jadi bakal perdana menteri kalau menang adalah DAP."

(I know some consider DAP as the enemy, the enemy of the Malays. Umno tells all the Malays that DAP is the enemy. But I say that the proposal for me to be chairperson and prime ministerial candidate if we win came from DAP)

The Utusan report quoted Mahathir as stating that DAP played an "important role" in determining "everything" in the federal government. 

This was based on Mahathir's speech at the officiation of Terengganu Bersatu's office. - Mkini