Perikatan Nasional chief Muhyiddin Yassin has accused Pakatan Harapan and the government of using police to silence dissent.
He also denied allegations that he had misappropriated RM600 billion during his tenure as prime minister.
In a statement today, Muhyiddin (above) said since becoming government, Harapan had not shied away from using the police against leaders who are not aligned with them.
"This is a clear attempt at silencing dissent.
"It is vastly different than their promises of institutional reforms to ensure major institutions such as the police are free of political interference," he said in a statement.
Muhyiddin cited a police report lodged by Hulu Langat MP Sany Hamzan and accusations levelled by Digital Communication Minister Fahmi Fadzil as examples.
He also claimed that Fahmi had previously stated that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had ordered police to investigate PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang over claims that the premier was an Israeli agent.
Muhyiddin added the police then denied that they were investigating Hadi.
Fahmi, in a statement on Nov 28, said Anwar had ordered police to probe slanderous remarks, such as accusations of the latter being an Israeli agent.
However, he did not name Hadi.
The next day, police issued a statement saying they were investigating Hadi over the remarks but later corrected it to say that they were investigating PAS' Baling MP Hassan Saad over the matter.
However, police are questioning Hadi today over unspecified police reports made against the PAS president.
On the alleged RM600 billion graft, Muhyiddin said he was unsure how this figure came about.
He posits that it may refer to stimulus packages announced when he was prime minister, which totalled RM530 billion.
However, Muhyiddin said a considerable bulk of the RM530 billion in the stimulus was non-fiscal and was assistance in the form of Employee Provident Fund (EPF) withdrawals (RM145 billion), reduction in EPF contributions (RM10 billion) bank loan moratoriums (RM180 billion) and government guarantees for corporate loans (RM80 billion).
"It is not possible for me to misappropriate these funds as these are individual or bank monies which did not involve government spending," he said, adding that he had no control over how the funds were spent.
As for aid that did involve government funds, Muhyiddin stressed that not a single sen went into his account.
"It does not make sense that aid for the people which go directly into their accounts can be misappropriated to my account,” the Pagoh MP added.
Muhyiddin said any misappropriation would have also been flagged by the National Audit Department and the Public Accounts Committee.
He also said the Finance Ministry would have all the necessary details and paperwork.
PN opponents claim that the coalition's election campaign was unusually expensive, and questioned the source of funds - with some linking it to the alleged RM600 billion misappropriation.
Muhyiddin said those in the government now should stop pointing fingers and get to work.
"You are the government now, so act like a government," he said. - Mkini
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