DPM: Opposition will seek to topple BN after polls

(The Star) – Barisan Nasional is bracing itself to the possibility that the Opposition would denounce the upcoming election results when it loses and go to the streets to topple a democratically elected government.

“They will proclaim the polls results as unjust, unfair, not clean to create a negative perception,” said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. .

He said such a scenario was possible and expected of the Opposition following the growing support for Barisan since the last polls in 2008.

He said the move was part of a “grand design” to wage “physiological warfare” aimed at conditioning the rakyat for street demonstrations akin to the ‘Arab Spring’ to topple the Government.

“The physcological warfare is being perpetrated so that if Barisan Nasional wins in the election, the rakyat would be conditioned for an uprising to topple the democratically elected Government,” he told reporters this after launching the Federal Territory Barisan Nasional election machinery here on Sunday.

He cited the recent Bersih rallies and formation of Election Monitoring Team as part of the strategy to denounce election results when the Opposition lost in the polls.

“The Opposition assumed that Barisan would weaken after the last general election.

“However, they are worried as support for them is dwindling while support for Barisan had since returned,” he added.

He said such a warning was recently given by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in his blog.

Earlier in his speech, Muhyiddin, who is also Barisan deputy chairman, said though the Government has done much to develop the nation over the last 50 years, the people’s expectation in today’s knowledge society for rights and freedom were higher.

This, he said, was the message sent by Malaysians in the last general election.

He said this was why Barisan was focused on the Government’s political and social transformation programmes.

However, despite Barisan’s nation building efforts, he warned coalition members that they would face a ‘life or death’ fight in the coming polls against the Opposition.