The PH MoU with the govt cost opposition the Melaka elections, says Kit Siang
(FMT) – DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang says the memorandum of understanding between Pakatan Harapan and the government has brought about a modicum of political stability, ensuring Ismail Sabri Yaakob will not be toppled as the prime minister.
He said without the MoU, the possibility of continued political instability and turmoil, resulting in the country searching for a new prime minister, would have been real.
“The MoU is to ensure a modicum of political stability whereby PH will not vote out the 2022 Budget and also means there won’t be a vote of no confidence in Ismail.
“The MoU was in exchange for Ismail’s promise to focus on bringing the Covid-19 pandemic under control to save lives and livelihoods,” he said in a statement today.
The Iskandar Puteri MP said that there was widespread misunderstanding that the MoU meant that PH now supported the one-sided and divisive 2022 Budget, when this was not the case.
He said the DAP and PH leaders would continue to oppose the injustices and discrimination in the budget which did not reflect the “Keluarga Malaysia” concept advocated by the prime minister.
“Some Melaka voters were misled by the misconception that there is now no difference between the government and the opposition, and that a vote for PH is as good as a vote for the government parties.”
He said when Ismail became prime minister on Aug 21, Malaysia had 1,535,286 Covid-19 cases and 13,936 Covid-19 deaths.
“If the crazy increase in Covid-19 cases and deaths had not been ended, we may have seen (on his 100th day today as prime minister) a cumulative total of five million Covid-19 cases and close to 100,000 Covid-19 deaths,” Lim said.
He said this was why PH had insisted on a RM45 billion allocation as part of the MoU to save not only lives but also livelihoods as a result of the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic.
Lim felt that there was no guarantee that Ismail would be appointed prime minister if Umno wins in the next general election as Najib Razak was working very hard to rehabilitate himself and return as the 10th prime minister.
“Ismail is no reformer, but the only way he can avoid ending up as the prime minister with the shortest tenure in Malaysia is to uphold the MoU and drag out the GE15 until 2023,” he added.
