Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob should stop casting aspersions on the calibre of certain politicians such as Muhyiddin Yassin and Azmin Ali, said Lim Kit Siang.
This was the veteran politician's sarcastic retort to the premier’s defence of the “Sheraton Move” because DAP dominated the Pakatan Harapan government.
Lim also called on Ismail Sabri, the architect behind “Keluarga Malaysia”, to set an example instead of peddling fake news and to ensure that his campaign is not built on falsehoods.
As for the accusation that the DAP called the shots in the Harapan government, the Iskandar Puteri MP challenged Ismail Sabri to explain how six of the party’s ministers could “dominate and overwhelm” the 28-member cabinet under Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“There were eight ministers who were implicated in the infamous Sheraton Move conspiracy - who were, at the time, home minister Muhyiddin, minister for economic affairs Azmin Ali, minister for housing and local government Zuraida Kamaruddin, foreign minister Saifuddin Abdullah, minister for entrepreneurship development and co-operatives Mohd Redzuan Yusof, works minister Baru Bian, minister for rural development Rina Harun and the minister for land resources and water Dr Xavier Jayakumar.
“Was Ismail Sabri sincerely and actually suggesting that the Bersatu and PKR ministers were so low-quality and incompetent that they were unable to stand up to the ‘dominance’ of six DAP ministers?
“And how was this DAP’s ‘dominance’ shown? Detention of a DAP state exco in Malacca and state assemblyperson in Negeri Sembilan on baseless Tamil Tiger links?
“The prime minister should stop running down the calibre and competence of Muhyiddin, Azmin, Zuraida and the other Bersatu and PKR ministers,” he added in a statement today.
‘Anti-Malay and anti-Islam’
However, Lim, who is on a mission to “debunk the sea of lies, fake news and false information which had been polluting the political arena in the last few years”, said this claim paled in comparison to the accusation that the DAP is a threat to the Malay race and Islam.
“I deny the charges that the DAP is anti-Malay and anti-Islam because this goes against the DAP’s core beliefs that Malaysia is a plural society of a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural entity and that we should leverage on the four great human civilisations that meet in confluence in Malaysia to build a great Malaysian civilisation.
“I dare to challenge anyone to cite one instance when the DAP was part of the Harapan government that could show that the DAP was anti-Malay or anti-Islam because we are not anti any race or anti any religion, but pro all races and all religions to create the basis for unity, justice and harmony in Malaysia in pursuit of the ‘Malaysian Dream’,” he added.
Lim noted that one of the most controversial issues in the Harapan government was the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd) fiasco at the end of 2018.
“I am on public record challenging the foreign minister at the time and one of the Sheraton Move ministers, Saifuddin, to ‘come clean’ on the Icerd fiasco and admit that it was solely his own making and that DAP ministers knew nothing about the proposed Icerd ratification, although the DAP was the target of demonisation for being anti-Malay, anti-Islam and even anti-royalty,” he added.
Lim also pointed out that DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke told Parliament yesterday that a DAP leader saved the Armed Forces Pension Fund from suffering a loss of RM555 million in a government bailout.
“Loke said it was he, as transport minister then, who had suggested that the fund of the armed forces (LTAT) be reimbursed the RM555 million it spent to take over the concessions for the Automated Enforcement System (AES) for driving offences.
“His cabinet colleague at the time, Mohamad Sabu (Pakatan Harapan-Kota Raja), who was the defence minister, agreed to the suggestion.
“Loke said it was Najib Abdul Razak when he was the sixth prime minister, who proposed that LTAT takes over the AES concession from concessionaires Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd and ATES Sdn Bhd for RM555 million,” Lim added.
Quoting Loke, he said if the DAP had not made such a decision, LTAT’s money “would have been ‘burnt’ and the veterans would face problems”.
Lim also cited Ahmad Murad Merican of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation, International Islamic University Malaysia, who told the roundtable conference on “Rebranding of Malay Politics” that “to be a Malay is to be negative, lazy, corrupt, hypocritical, racist” and called for change.
Ahmad Murad, he added, called for the Malay image to change, along with Malay culture as well as political behaviour, and that re-branding is also necessary at the international level.
“Whose fault is this: the DAP whose minister saved RM550 million for the army veterans or Najib, who is responsible for the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal and Umno, whose leaders had never uttered a word to condemn ‘kleptocracy at its worst’ in the past decade?
“Will anybody from Umno dare to respond?” Lim asked. - Mkini
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