I am not a DAP dictator, says a frightened Kit Siang
DAP elder politician also rubbishes claims that he is using Dr Mahathir Mohamad as his puppet and stooge in the Pakatan Harapan coalition
(FMT) – DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang has refuted claims that he has been a dictator in the opposition, accusing those making such allegations as being “propagandists, publicists and cybertroopers” for Prime Minister Najib Razak.
He also denied that he was trying to manipulate and control PPBM chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the affairs of the opposition, where both DAP and PPBM are components of the Pakatan Harapan coalition.
“I resigned as DAP secretary-general in 1999 and stepped down as DAP chairman in 2004,” the Gelang Patah MP said.
“Maybe Najib’s propagandists could explain how I could be ‘dictator’ of DAP after stepping down from active party leadership for the past 13 years,” he said in a statement today.
He also asked why PPBM chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was prime minister and Umno president for 22 years, could not continue as an Umno “dictator” since his retirement from the positions in 2003.
“And how I could make Mahathir my puppet and stooge, as Umno propagandists and publicists claim, although MCA and Gerakan propagandists are making the opposite accusation that I have become Mahathir’s puppet and stooge? Which is which?” he added.
In a statement yesterday, Najib’s press secretary Tengku Sariffudin Tengku Ahmad called on DAP’s Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong to focus on fixing DAP’s “democratic deficit” rather than hitting out at the government through fake news and lies.
He suggested that Liew and his party colleagues tell DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, whom he referred to as “Penang Official 1”, to resign as Penang chief minister in view of the corruption charges he was facing in court, and tell Kit Siang to retire after half a century of failed dictatorship.
He also said they should urge DAP vice-chairman Tan Seng Giaw, who was more concerned for the people’s welfare than for his personal power, to take over the party leadership.
(On June 21, Guan Eng had taken Tan to task for commenting on the loss of greenery in Penang on Facebook while touring the island. Guan Eng said the DAP would deal with the matter internally and refused to comment further.)
Tengku Sariffudin said if Liew refused to do so, he should keep quiet and refrain from “parroting the tired old smears of a tired old dictator.”
“We are now in the 21st century. Dictators are relics of the past – although the opposition, even though it claims to speak for democracy, now has not one but two dictators leading it,” he added.
Kit Siang retorted today that Tengku Sariffudin was a “genius” who thought that a country, political system or political party could have two dictators.
“Only a cretin could conceive of two dictators for one country, political system or political party,” he said.
“At this rate, the next phase for the Umno ‘demonisers’ will be to elevate me into a ‘master of the universe’ with powers to direct foreign governments, like the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Switzerland, Singapore and Luxemburg to interfere with Malaysia’s internal affairs and institute actions against 1MDB to ‘topple’ Najib and Umno,” he added.
