Perikatan Nasional (PN) appears uninterested in performing its role as an effective opposition, so there is no basis for former Bersatu information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan's remarks that the current government is pressuring PN to break the check and balance mechanism.
This was Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung's response to Wan Saiful's statement yesterday, in which the latter also described Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as being a vengeful leader who rules with an iron fist.
“It is clear that the statement about the current government only aiming to disable Perikatan Nasional so that there is no check and balance is completely inaccurate,” Lee (above) said in a statement today.
He said the government has undertaken various efforts to strengthen the check and balance mechanism, such as empowering the Dewan Rakyat, getting rid of open tenders as well as plans to table legislations like the Government Procurement Act and the Political Funding Act.
PN lawmakers also do not appear to be interested in becoming an effective opposition, Lee said.
He said they are constantly uttering confusing statements and then apologising in the august House and their attendance rate is also low despite the prime minister being in the Dewan Rakyat to answer lawmakers’ questions.
PN has also failed to table an alternative budget to show that they are a bloc that is able to offer alternative policies to the rakyat, he added.
‘PN has not played its role’
“Hence Wan Saiful’s statement that checks and balances will disappear is nonsense because PN has thus far not played its role as a constructive and effective opposition,” Lee said.
Lee also said Wan Saiful’s personal attacks against Anwar were baseless and only meant to garner sympathy after a string of Bersatu leaders, including the party’s president Muhyiddin Yassin, were charged in court for corruption recently.
“Wan Saiful’s statement describing Anwar as being old, vindictive, opportunistic and ruling with an iron fist is far from the truth,” he added.
He said he finds it strange Wan Saiful did not describe his former ‘boss’ Dr Mahathir Mohamad the same way he did with Anwar.
“Instead, these emotional words were thrown against Anwar only after he (Wan Saiful) was charged with two counts of soliciting and receiving bribes amounting to RM6.9 million involving the Jana Wibawa project worth RM232 million last year,” Lee said.
Wan Saiful said yesterday that the prosecution of several PN leaders shows that Anwar is not a reformer but a vengeful leader who governs with an iron fist.
He also alleged that the government’s main priority now is to disrupt PN so that there will be no checks and balances in the country.
“The pressure that Anwar is putting on the opposition is to cripple the tie-breaking process.
“Anwar is merely an old vengeful opportunist,” Wan Saiful said.
Wan Saiful’s remarks came after Bersatu chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin was summoned by the MACC and was questioned for about nine hours yesterday.
Muhyiddin was charged in court today with four counts of abuse of power and two money laundering charges involving RM232.5 million.
Wan Saiful was himself charged on Feb 21 with two counts of soliciting and accepting bribes amounting to RM6.9 million involving the Jana Wibawa project worth RM232 million last year.
PN leaders have consistently described the string of charges as political persecution. - Mkini
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