Dr M: DAP ministers used for fear-mongering among Malays

Former finance minister Lim Guan Eng is smart but he and his party DAP cannot destroy the Malays, said Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The former premier said this to rubbish claims by the opposition, notably from former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, that DAP would have destroyed the Malays had it come into power.

"Yes, Lim is smart, but he couldn't do anything without our approval.

"We should have realised that (the perception) was Najib's attempt to instil fear among the Malays in his bid to topple the Pakatan Harapan (government)," he said.

The Langkawi MP pointed out that during the Harapan administration, only six ministers were from DAP.

"It's impossible for the other 22 ministers to bow down to the six," he said.

Mahathir was speaking in a "Blackout Bersatu" ceramah entitled "Tun... Kenapa dan Mengapa" (Tun... why and what for) in Kedah yesterday, which is part of a road tour to clarify matters concerning the party.

On July 17, the campaign was held in Johor, and their next destination is slated to be in Perak.

Explaining further, Mahathir said Najib (above) had been working hard to persuade the Malays to believe that DAP would destroy the community.

"Najib claimed that DAP controlled the Harapan government. That's not true," he said.

Mahathir added that Najib had persuaded some ministers and Bersatu leaders to leave Harapan to form a government with Umno and PAS, and convinced them that Bersatu would remain in power if they did so.

"Unfortunately, there's someone in the party who saw the opportunity to become the prime minister.

"With the separation (within the party), we had split. (Thus) we are bersatu (united) no more," he said.

Mahathir was referring to Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin who is now helming the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.

The Harapan government collapsed in February after Muhyiddin took Bersatu out of the coalition.

Several PKR MPs aligned to former deputy party president Azmin Ali had also joined PN. - Mkini