Kit Siang: I sat out Harapan cabinet as we needed to rebuild for future

Veteran DAP leader Lim Kit Siang has taken aim at those who blame the Pakatan Harapan administration for Malaysia's woes instead of attributing them to the long periods of Umno rule.

In a statement today, he also said he deliberately stayed out of the Harapan cabinet to allow young leaders to take the reins as part of a much-needed rebuilding process.

"There is at present an aggressive demonisation campaign to make Malaysians believe that the 22-month Harapan government was responsible for all the woes and crises of the country.

"It was during the 22-month Harapan government that Malaysia achieved the best Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) rank and score in 25 years…

"And if the Harapan government had not been sabotaged and toppled by the Sheraton Move conspiracy in February 2020 and able to serve out its five-year mandate, Malaysia might have achieved its ambition to be among the top 30 countries in the world for public integrity and least corruption.

"Now we are ranked No 62 and will go lower when the TI CPI 2022 is revealed in January next year," said Lim who also cited declining economic conditions since the Harapan administration was felled.

"We are not only facing the prospects of being overtaken by Indonesia in economic development, but Malaysia is also publicly berated by the Indonesian ambassador as a ‘disgrace’ for not adhering to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Indonesian maids signed three months ago.

"Are these the result of 22 months of Harapan government? Of course not, they are the work of an Umno prime minister!" he said.

The Iskandar Puteri MP said that what Malaysia achieved in the 14th general election – the end of Umno political hegemony by toppling the Umno-led BN – was close to a political miracle.

"If you had asked me on the morning of polling day on 9th May 2018 whether Umno-led Barisan Nasional would be defeated, I would have answered in the negative," he recalled.

Lim said there were several reasons he chose not to be part of the cabinet himself.

"The challenge of the Harapan government was to re-set nation-building policies of the country after 61 years of nation-building.

"We needed to set an example to all that politics is not for self-gain, whether money or position, but to pursue ideals and values good for the country,

"I was the foremost critic of (ex-premier) Dr Mahathir Mohamad in his 22 years as prime minister, but the challenge of 2018 was to deal with the ‘present and the future’, not to deal with the past," he said.

Lim said that, compared with their allies, the party showed a strong commitment to the transfer of power and responsibility to the younger generation.

"We had three ministers in their fifties, two in their forties, and one in the thirties as compared to our allies, two parties with leaders in cabinet who were in their sixties and another one, with two leaders one in the nineties and one in the seventies."- Mkini