DAP's Sungai Pelek assemblyperson Ronnie Liu said he hoped the current spat between his party colleague Tony Pua and former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad would help open the eyes of party members.
Liu told Malaysiakini that there were some in the party who remained 'blindly devoted' to Mahathir even though the former prime minister had played a role in bringing down the Pakatan Harapan government by trying to form a unity government to avoid handing over power to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim as promised.
"I guess after this spat between Tun (Mahathir) and Tony, all those DAP people who still love Mahathir may start thinking differently.
"After seeing how Mahathir is whacking Tony publicly, they may now realise what I have been saying about Mahathir all along was true.
"These people may start keeping a distance from Mahathir. No more selfies, I guess," said Liu.
Liu said that during Harapan's time in federal power, he had spoken out repeatedly against Mahathir, whom he felt was squandering the coalition's goodwill by ignoring promised reforms and playing up intra-party rivalries to his benefit.
"I made a lot of noise at the time, but it was all wasted. It would be different if several of them had joined me in voicing this out.
"Now it's too late to realise Mahathir was bad for DAP and bad for Harapan. Too late," he lamented.
Liu was at the receiving end of disciplinary inquiries for being vocal about Mahathir's transgressions during his second stint as prime minister.
"I was given three show-cause letters in a row for criticising Mahathir or speaking out against mistakes and blunders made by Harapan as a whole.
"If not for the great support from the DAP grassroots, I would have been removed," he added.
'Party colleagues blinded and dazzled by their positions'
He speculated that some of his party colleagues had been 'blinded and dazzled' by their positions in government and allowed themselves to be sweet-talked into submission. Liu felt that once the government fell, they could not bring themselves to admit that they had been duped and their own prime minister had sold the coalition out.
"Some people out there told me that Mahathir managed to silence the Harapan leadership by using the carrot and stick tactics.
"They said Mahathir always threatened to sack ministers and deputy ministers to silence them. Maybe there is some truth in it," Liu added.
He suggested that this could be why his formerly fiery DAP colleagues were silent when Mahathir accepted Umno MPs into Bersatu, courted PAS support and attended the controversial Malay Dignity Congress.
This past week an increasingly scathing war of words has erupted between Mahathir and Damansara MP Pua, after excerpts from Mahathir's new book, "Capturing Hope: The Struggle Continues for a New Malaysia", were released.
The excerpts talked about an arrogant aide who behaved like a minister during his tenure as the political secretary to former finance minister Lim Guan Eng.
The former prime minister claimed businesspeople were against the Harapan administration due to such an attitude.
Pua responded by publishing three statements in response to Mahathir's accusations, saying he was unfairly judged based on a perception created by the business circle with vested interests and political sentiments in Bersatu and Umno.
Over the past few days, hostilities have been on the rise between Mahathir and Pua. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.