A great risk but a great challenge to Pakatan Harapan to make itself the coalition of choice of young voters when the voting age is lowered to 18 years

Penurunan umur layak mengundi kepada 18 tahun adalah satu risiko kepada Pakatan Harapan dan cabaran yang besar kepada Pakatan Harapan untuk kekal menjadi pilihan golongan muda

Penurunan had umur mengundi kepada 18 tahun telah lama diketahui umum akan memberikan kelebihan kepada pihak pembangkang dan akan memberikan kesan negatif kepada pihak kerajaan semasa. Inilah sebabnya Perlembagaan Persekutuan tidak pernah dipinda untuk pemerkasaan golongan muda seperti yang akan dilakukan ini sepanjang 6 dekad yang sebelum ini.

Tetapi kerajaan Pakatan Harapan akan membuktikan kepada negara ini, yang kami akan membuat keputusan berdasarkan kepentingan negara, walaupun ia mungkin akan bertentangan dengan kepentingan politik parti. Pakatan Harapan menerima cabaran ini untuk menjadikannya parti pilihan golongan muda dalam negara ini.

Saya berasa lega dan gembira dengan pembentangan Rang Undang-undang Pindah Perlembagaan semalam yang bertujuan untuk menurunkan had umur mengundi kepada 18 tahun, memandangkan saya pernah mencadangkan perkara yang sama 48 tahun yang lepas pada tahun 1971.

47 tahun yang lepas, pada tahun 1971 , tahun pertama saya menyertai Parlimen (Parlimen digantung selama 18 bulan selepas PRU 1969 kerana Tragedi 13 Mei dan Darurat), saya telah membentangkan tiga cadangan untuk penambahbaikan sistem pilihanraya, iaitu;

– Penurunan had umur mengundi kepada 18 tahun,

– Pendaftaran pengundi secara automatik, dan

– Mewajibkan pengundian.

Sejak daripada cadangan saya pada tahun 1971 ini, majoriti negara di seluruh dunia telah melaksanakan reformasi pilihanraya ini, kecuali Malaysia yang seakan-akan tersekat dalam peredaran masa dalam hal-hal reformasi parlimen dan pilihanraya.

Kini, dengan keputusan bersejarah 9 Mei 2018, Malaysia berada di haluan yang tepat untuk membina satu Malaysia yang Baharu.

Setakat hari ini, Malaysia ada salah satu daripada hanya beberapa negara yang masih belum melaksanakan reformasi pilihanraya untuk menurunkan had umur mengundi kepada 18 tahun.

Di kalangan negara ASEAN, hanya Malaysia dan Singapura yang masih mempunyai had umur mengundi pada umur 21 tahun, walaupun individu berumur 18 tahun dan ke atas dianggap sebagai individu yang matang, berkebolehan untuk memiliki hartanah, dan menyertai perjanjian yang mempunyai pelbagai tanggungjawab dan hak.

Memandangkan masyarakat secara amnya menuntut golongan muda berumur 18 tahun dan ke atas untuk menunaikan tanggungjawab sosial seperti seorang dewasa — seperti direkrut untuk menyertai pasukan tentera apabila berlakunya perang atau darurat, mahupun mengorbankan nyawa dalam mempertahankan negara — golongan ini seharusnya diberikan hak untuk mengundi dan mempunyai suara dalam menentukan bagaimana negara ini ditadbir yang mempunyai kesan yang jelas terhadap kehidupan mereka.

Di Thailand, Filipina, Vietnam, Laos, Kemboja, dan Myanmar, had umur mengundi adalah 18 tahun, manakala di Indonesia, had umur mengundi adalah 17 tahun dan keatas.

Antara negara-negara yang telah menurunkan umur mengundi daripada 21 tahun ke 18 tahun sejak daripada ucapan saya di Parlimen mengenai isu ini pada tahun 1971 termasuklah; Belanda, Amerika Syarikat, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Filipina, Australia, Perancis, New Zealand, Itali, Trinidad & Tobago, Denmark, Sepanyol, Peru, Belgium, India, Switzerland, Austria, Estonia, Hong Kong, Liechenstein, Jordan, Pakistan, Morocco, Maghribi, Uzbekistan, Arab Saudi, dan Jepun.

Manakala, negara-negara seperti United Kingdom, Turki, Poland, Kanada, dan German pula telah pun memberikan hak mengundi kepada golongan yang berumur 18 tahun dan ke atas semasa saya berucap di Parlimen pada tahun 1971.

Berkat pilihanraya ke-14 yang bersejarah pada 9 Mei 2018, Malaysia kini berada dalam haluan yang tepat untuk kembali ke arus perdana reformasi demokrasi dan pilihanraya.

(Kenyataan Media Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri di Kuala Lumpur pada hari Jumaat 5 Julai 2019)

==========================

It is generally held that lowering the voting age to 18 will be beneficial to the Opposition and detrimental to the government of the day, and this was why the Malaysian Constitution was never amended  to provide for such an empowerment  of the youths in the past six decades.

But the Pakatan Harapan government will demonstrate that it will act in the best interests of the country although it might to be detrimental to the interests of the Pakatan Harapan coalition, and Pakatan Harapan will rise to the challenge to make itself the coalition of choice of the young voters when the voting age is lowered to 18 years.

I feel a special vindication with the  tabling of the Constitution Amendment Bill yesterday to lower the voting age to 18, which  is particularly historic, as I had first advocated for this measure in Parliament as far back as 48 years ago in 1971.

In my first year in Parliament 47 years ago in 1971, (Parliament was suspended for 18 months after the 1969 General Election because of the May 13 riots and the declaration of emergency), I made three proposals for electoral reforms, viz:

– Lowering the voting age to 18 years;

– Automatic registration of eligible voters; and

– Compulsory voting.

Since my suggestion for the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18 in 1971, the majority of the countries in the world have adopted this electoral reform but Malaysia seemed to be frozen in time as far as democratic, parliamentary and electoral reforms are concerned.

Now, Malaysia is set for major changes to build a New Malaysia because of the historic result of the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018.

Malaysia is today one of the handful of countries that have not carried out the electoral reform to lower the voting age from 21 to 18.

In ASEAN, Malaysia and Singapore are the two remaining countries where voting age is still fixed at 21, although men and women of 18 years are treated for serious civil purposes as mature people, able to own property and enter into contractual obligations and rights.

Youths at 18 ought to have the right to vote and to have a say about the way in which their lives are governed and the country is being run, as society expects them to assume adult social responsibilities whether conscription when there is war or national emergency, even to die in the defence of the country.

In Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, the voting age is 18, while in Indonesia the voting age is 17.

The countries which have lowered the voting age of 21 to 18 since my speech in Parliament on the issue in 1971 included Netherlands, United States, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Philippines, Australia, France, New Zealand, Italy, Trinidad and Tobago, Denmark, Spain, Peru, Belgium, India, Switzerland, Austria, Estonia, Hong Kong, Liechtenstein, Jordan, Pakistan, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Japan.

Countries which had already given the right to vote to their 18 year-olds when I spoke in Parliament in 1971 included the United Kingdom, Turkey, Poland, Canada and Germany.

Thanks to the historic 14th General Election on May 9, 2018, Malaysia is poised to return to the international mainstream for democratic and electoral reforms.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 5th July 2019)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 5 July 2019, 2:48 pm and is filed under
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Lets build a country where every Malaysian, regardless of race, religion, region or socio-economic origin,  can reach for the stars

I am particularly struck by two events revealed in the book.

Page 34 – while stopping at a newsagent in Petaling Jaya in September 1978 enroute to the Subang International Airport flying to London to study law, Kula caught sight of a book that was displayed, Time Bombs in Malaysia, which was published for the July 1978 General Election.

He wrote: “I purchased a copy and commenced reading the book in the taxi to the airport, and while in the departure lounge awaiting embarkation, and on the flight to Heathrow Airport, London. By the time I landed I had changed my mind about immigrating to another land. I wanted to complete my studies and come back to the country of my birth to see what I could do to change things”.

Page 50 – 51 on his visit to P.Patto, who was a  Operation Lalang detainee  in Kamunting Detention Centre in 1988, and airing his family’s view on emigration to Australia.

Kula wrote: “He reacted angrily. I was jolted by his reaction. He told me not to waste his and my time by visiting him if I harboured thought of migrating.  He did not spare my feelings.  He made it sound like I was a coward if I wanted to migrate. He appeared to equate patriotism with a willingness to sacrifice for the sake of making the country a better place for all Malaysians. Patto told me not to visit him again if I persisted in wanting to migrate.

“The telling off by Patto had the effect of scuttling all thoughts of migrating. I recalled when I left for law studies to England in 1978 that I had a notion to migrate. But I dropped the idea when I read Kit Siang’s book Time Bombs which I purchased in Petaling Jaya en route to Subang Airport for the flight to England. At the end of the long flight I had read the book through and dropped the idea of migration. Similarly sometime in 1988 while visiting Patto at Kamunting I had the migration idea flushed out of me by the verbal shelling I received from Patto.

“Prior to meeting him, I had yet to encounter a person of Patto’s staunch political convictions and fervour. I know he was an effective public speaker in Malay, Hokkien and Tamil.  But I had not expected to find him that effective in private conversation. He took my stated intention of migration and shook the stuffing out of it.  I felt like a penitent schoolboy before a strict headmaster.”

Kula had an illustrious political career. Although he failed in his first  electoral outing in the Perak State Assembly seat of Canning Garden in the 1995 General Election, he achieved a great electoral victory in the Telun Intan by-election in 1997 – making famous the slogan “Write History, Create Miracle” to win against insuperable odds.

Barisan Nasional had won Teluk Intan in the 1995 General Election with as 15,000-plus majority. Kula achieved a stunning turnaround of votes, winning with a 2,619-vote majority.

I was tickled to read of our trip to the Socialist International conference in New Delhi in the late 1990s, as I had quite forgotten about it.

This is what Kula wrote in Page 69:

“Once in New Delhi where we shared a hotel room during a meeting in the late 1990s of the Socialist International to which the DAP sent two representatives. I  was awakened at five in the morning by the sound of somebody at work. It was Kit banging away at his laptop……Kit was drafting a statement. What was amazing was that he and I had several drinks till late the previous night with fellow attendees at the Socialist International.  We had gone to bed fairly inebriated but Kit was up at dawn, working at this laptop.  As anyone knows who has had several drinks late into the night, to get up early the next morning to write is evidence of an iron discipline.”

Kula returned to Ipoh to contest in the 1999 General Election, but that was a bad general election where Karpal Singh and I got defeated, as the Chinese urban voters succumbed to the MCA propaganda that a vote for DAP was a vote for PAS, and that  there would be no Chinese schools, temples would be closed and there would be no pork!

In Perak in the 1999 General Election, the DAP was virtually wiped out clinging only to one parliamentary seat.  But in the 2004 General Election, Kula and I were able to wrest back political control of the DAP in the  Kinta Valley.  The rest – together with Kula’s three-term election as MP for Ipoh Barat and now Minister for Human Resources –  is history.

Kula Segaran’s book “M Kula Segaran – From Estate to Cabinet” should be read by every Malaysian for it typifies the credo of a New Malaysia, where  every Malaysian, regardless of race, religion, region or socio-economic origin, can reach for the stars.

Ordinary Malaysians have saved Malaysia from a global kleptocracy and becoming a failed and rogue state.

The challenge now is  whether Malaysia can succeed in nation building out of the diverse races, religions, languages and cultures that have made Malaysia their home to become a model of an united, tolerant, incorruptible, successful, progressive and prosperous nation.

This is within the realm of possibility if every Malaysian, regardless of race, religion, region of socio-economic origin, can reach for the stars and the journey from estate to cabinet is a normal Malaysian phenomenon.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at the launching of the book “M Kula Segaran  – From Estate to Cabinet” at Sheraton Imperial Hotel, Kuala Lumpur  on Friday 5th July 2019 at 8 pm)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 5 July 2019, 8:24 pm and is filed under
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What has happened to the proposed Jalan V David in Petaling Jaya?

It has been asked as to what had been  the difference to DAP between the days when it was in the Opposition and the days when it was part of Pakatan Harapan Federal Government.

One simple answer is that DAP had only to think of itself when it was in Opposition, but when it is part of Pakatan Harapan federal government, it must also think of the interests of the other three coalition parties, namely PKR, Bersatu and Amanah.

The political principles and objectives of the DAP cannot change, but we are operating in a different milieu, and we cannot speak out like in the past when we are in Opposition, as we should pursue our principles and objectives internally in the Pakatan Harapan coalition government.

The four political parties have different principles and objectives, but we are bound by the common principles of the Pakatan Harapan manifesto which formed the basis of the Pakatan Harapan coalition government.

They are the five pillar-promises of Pakatan Harapan election manifesto in the 14th General Election, viz:

· Reduce the people’s burden.

· Institutional and political reforms.

· Spur sustainable and equitable economic growth.

· Return Sabah and Sarawak to the status accorded in Malaysia Agreement 1963.

· Create a Malaysia that is inclusive, moderate and respected globally.

We may not agree or  happy with everything that is being done in the name of the Pakatan Harapan government, but it is our duty and challenge  to make a special effort to make the Pakatan Harapan government succeed, achieving more of the  goals and objectives of a New Malaysia with the passage of time.

I was shocked by the announcement of the Selangor Mentri Besar Amiruddin Shari on renaming Jalan Semangat in Petaling Jaya to Jalan Professor Khoo Kay Kim, not because of any objection to the honour bestowed on the prominent historian, but because it raises the  question as to what has happened to the DAP suggestion for quite some time that Jalan Barat in Petaling Jaya should be renamed Jalan Dr. V. David, in honour of the trade unionist-parliamentariann who was instrumental for Malaysia to adopt May Day as a workers’ holiday.

Penang has honoured illustrious political leaders with Karpal Singh Drive, Jalan Ahmad Nor, Jalan P. Patoo and Jalan Chian Heng Kai.

We await clarification from the Selangor Mentri Besar.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at a Penang DAP dialogue at Berjaya Penang Hotel on Saturday, 6th July 2019 at 5pm)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 6 July 2019, 8:18 pm and is filed under
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Lowering of voting age from 21 to 18 had been described as an act of political suicide by Pakatan Harapan, but I believe this will be an added reason for Pakatan Harapan parties to get their act together to fulfil the vision of a New Malaysia as promised in the Pakatan Manifesto

The lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18 has been described as an act of political suicide by Pakatan Harapan as it will add an army of voters in the next general election who will be anti-government.

However, I do not agree with this pessimistic analysis, as Pakatan Harapan is not only doing what is right for the country, it will be an added reason for Pakatan Harapan parties to get their act together to fulfil the vision of a New Malaysia as promised in the Pakatan Manifesto in the 14th General Election.

Pakatan Harapan leaders must recognise the disappointment and disillusionment of large segments of our supporters who had voted for the historic change of government in the 14th General Election  on May 9 last year, who believed that the Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya had gone back to the bad old ways of the previous Barisan Nasioanal government.

They are wrong, but what is more important is that we must be able to convince them that their  disappointment and disillusionment while understandable  are completely  misplaced and  that Pakatan Harapan remains as committed as ever in  resetting the   nation-building process to build a New Malaysia.

Pakatan Harapan must carry out a special campaign to convince our core supporters that the trajectory towards a New Malaysia is on track, and that the five pillar- promises towards the building of a New Malaysia, as contained in the  Pakatan Harapan election manifesto in the 14th General Election remain our lodestar and guiding principle.

The five pillar-promises of a New Malaysia are:

· Reduce the people’s burden;

· Institutional and political reforms;

· Spur sustainable and equitable economic growth;

· Return Sabah and Sarawak to the status accorded in Malaysia Agreement 1963; and

· Create a Malaysia that is inclusive, moderate and respected globally

The Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council meeting in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow will be an important occasion to review the progress and chart the future of the Pakatan Harapan government’s future for the next three years plus.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at the Penang DAP dialogue at Iconic Hotel, Bukit Mertajam on Sunday, 7th July 2018 5 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 7 July 2019, 5:05 pm and is filed under
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Why Annuar Musa has not apologised for UMNO’s complicity in monstrous global  1MDB scandal before 2014 although he has admitted it?

The current UMNO secretary-general Datuk Seri Annuar Musa should explain why he has not apologised for UMNO’s complicity in the monstrous global 1MDB scandal before 2014 although he has admitted to it?

Annuar made this admission when he claimed that UMNO’s current frozen accounts had nothing to do with 1MDB as the funds from the former UYMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, were “used up by 2014″.

Is Annuar’s admission of UMNO complicity in the 1MDB scandal an official admission?

Has Annuar received  the consent of the UMNO President, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi, the UMNO Deputy President, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hassan and the UMNO Supreme Council to make  this admission of UMNO’s complicity in the monstrous global 1MDB scandal?

I had only asked four days ago when all the former Ministers, MPs and BN leaders of the former Najib government would apologise to the nation for pretending that there was no 1MDB scandal – when the whole world regarded Malaysia under Najib was a global kleptocracy because of 1MDB scandal?

This was after Hong Kong became the latest country to take action against former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner because of the 1MDB scandal, with its  Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) banning  Tim Leissner from re-entering the industry for life for his crimes linked to the 1MDB scandal.

Leissner had in August 2018 pleaded guilty to criminal charges brought by the US Department of Justice (US DOJ) against him for conspiring to commit money laundering and violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Leissner admitted, among others, that between 2009 and 2014, he conspired with others to obtain and retain business from 1MDB for Goldman Sachs, through the promise and payment of bribes and kickbacks to government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi, embezzled funds from 1MDB for himself and others, and laundered the bribes and kickbacks, as well as other embezzled funds from 1MDB; and knowingly and wilfully circumvented the controls of Goldman Sachs.

The court in the US adjudicated Leissner as guilty of both offences, and ordered him to forfeit US$43.7 million (about RM181 million) as a result of his crimes.

Back home in Malaysia, all  Malaysians are waiting for  all the former Ministers, MPs and BN leaders of  Najib’s administration to apologise to the nation for pretending that there was no 1MDB scandal – when the whole world knew and regarded Malaysia under Najib was a global kleptocracy because of 1MDB scandal?

Although Annuar swore that
“not a single sen of the money that has been frozen in Umno’s accounts has anything to do with 1MDB”
, PPBM Supreme Council member Tariq Ismail has exposed Annuar’s  “flawed logic”, asking:

“So, if Umno received funds in 2011, 2012 and 2013 from 1MDB and used it all in 2014, it means they are not guilty?

“Going by that logic, if a thief steals money and uses it, he is innocent?”

Tariq asked Annuar to  do some soul searching as “he is part of the gravy train of Umno leaders” that were only too happy to receive the 1MDB money.

Stating that Annuar was in denial in believing that Umno was really innocent, Tariq said that under money laundering laws, it does not matter whether the money has been spent or not when the account is frozen.

“As long as an account is suspected of receiving illegal money, that account is liable to be frozen, regardless of whether that illegal money has been spent or otherwise at the time the account is frozen.”

Let Malaysians hear from Annuar: Is UMNO guilty or innocent of 1MDB scandal?

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 8th July 2019)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 8 July 2019, 9:47 am and is filed under
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Thunderous silence of Najib’s Ministers, MPs and Barisan Nasional leaders about their complicity in the monstrous 1MDB scandal from 2015-2018  not surprising, but their continued silence after May 9, 2018 is most damning, unforgivable and destroy all their credibility to represent the people and nation

The thunderous silence of former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Ministers, MPs and Barisan Nasional leaders about their complicity in the monstrous global 1MDB  scandal from 2015-2018 is not surprising, but their continued silence after May 9, 2018 is most damning, unforgivable and destroy all their credibility to represent the people and nation.

Yesterday, I asked the UMNO Secretary-General Datuk Seri  Annuar Musa whether the UMNO President, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi, UMNO Deputy President Datuk Seri Mohamad Hassan as well as the UMNO Supreme Council are going to wear sackcloth to seek the forgiveness of Malaysians for their complicity in the monstrous global 1MDB scandal.

I also asked why all the former Ministers, MPs and BN leaders of the former Najib government had not  apologised to the nation in the past 14 months for pretending that there was no 1MDB scandal under the Najib premiership – when the whole world regarded Malaysia under Najib was a global kleptocracy because of 1MDB scandal?

I am not surprised by their continued silence, which is not only cowardly, craven but even more serious, an act of treachery against the nation.

There are those with political axes to grind who are  trying to influence public opinion by putting forth the argument that with the change of government in the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018, we should now forget about the 1MDB scandal so as to allow the courts to decide the guilt or otherwise of Malaysia’s global kleptocrats and focus on what the Pakatan Harapan government  can do to fulfil its election pledge of a New Malaysia.

They cannot be more wrong. Malaysians can only forget about the monstrous global 1MDB scandal at their own risk.

Malaysians should not forget about the catastrophe of the monstrous global 1MDB scandal and other rampant corruption of the previous administration, for it is going to take years and even decades to fully  undo all the damages of the 1MDB scandal.

Malaysia cannot overnight achieve the New Malaysia goal of a world top-class nation because of the ravages and the mindsets spawned by the 1MDB scandal.

The historic decision of the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 saved future generations from having the pay the price for the monstrous global 1MDB scandal and the rampant corruption of the previous administration.

But the present generation of Malaysians must pay the price for draining the country of the swamp of the monstrous global 1MDB scandal and rampant corruption of the past.

At least we have saved future generations of Malaysians from having  to suffer the present fate of Venezuelans.

Venezuela is in the thick of a terrible  political, socio-economic and humanitarian crisis. Once one of the 20 richest countries in the world and the richest in Latin America with free education and free medical services for her citizens, it is now  poor, backward, broken and bankrupt state, with over 10 per cent of Venezuelans (3.4 million) having left the country in despair.

The humanitarian crisis in Venezuela  has affected the life of the average Venezuelan on all levels. By 2017, hunger had escalated to the point where almost seventy-five percent of the population had lost an average of over 8 kg (over 19 lbs) in weight, and more than half did not have enough income to meet their basic food needs.

An United Nations report  estimated in March 2019 that 94% of Venezuelans live in poverty and  that twenty-five percent of Venezuelans need some form of humanitarian assistance. Venezuela led the world in murder rates, with 81.4 per 100,000 people killed in 2018, making it the third most violent country in the world.

We must never forget the monstrous global 1MDB scandal and the rampant corruption of the past, but must for ever remember the  catastrophe we had miraculously escaped with the historic decision of the 14th General

Election as a constant reminder that we have no time to lose to reset nation-building policies in accordance with the Malaysian Constitution and the Rukunegara principles to build a New Malaysia where we can take our place in the international community  as a top world-class nation.

Najib’s Ministers, MPs and Barisan Nasional leaders had many opportunities to establish their credibility and even patriotism to the country in the past by stopping the 1MDB scandal but they  failed to do so.

Why were they silent when the international media started to publish details of the monstrous global 1MDB scandal?

Why did they remain silent in the Week of Long Knives in July 2015, when the then Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, Deputy Prime Minsiter-cum-Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, and Minister for Regional and Rural Development Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal were summarily  sacked, and the major institutions such as the Police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and Bank Negara castrated and lost their institutional independence and professionalism?

The final blow to their credibility and patriotism was delivered in June 2016 when they continued in their complicity with Najib  in the 1MDB scandal despite the largest kleptocratic forfeiture litigation of   the United States Department of Justice in  what the US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions had described as “kleptocracy at its worst” 1MDB scandal.

There is no way Najib’s Ministers, MPs and Barisan Nasional leaders could cleanse themselves of their complicity in the 1MDB scandal and the rampant corruption of the Najib administration.

But they could have mitigated their complicity in the crime of 1MDB kleptocracy and the betrayal of national interests by apologising for their past 1MDB complicity  in the past 14 months, which they had not done.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Tuesday, 9th July 2019)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 9 July 2019, 11:21 am and is filed under
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Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong,  Kim Il-Sung and  Fidel Castro will turn in their graves if they know of Hadi’s suggestion that socialists like Jawaharlal Nehru, Nelson Mandela, Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson, Willy Brandit, Olof Palme,  Robert Hawke, Norman Kirk should join the pantheon of communist leaders

Berguling Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Kim Il-Sung, dan Fidel Castro di dalam kubur mereka mendengar kenyataan Hadi yang menyamakan sosialis seperti Jawaharlal Nehru, Nelson Mandela, Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson, Willy Brandt, Olof Palme, Robert Hawke, Norman Kirk dengan pemimpin-pemimpin gerakan komunisme

Berguling pemimpin komunis seperti Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Kim Il-Sung, dan Fidel Castro di dalam kubur mereka membaca kenyataaan Presiden PAS Datuk Seri Hadi Awang yang menyamakan mereka dengan sosialis seperti Jawaharlel Nehru (India), Nelson Mandela (Afrika Selatan), Clement Attlee dan Harold Wilson (UK), Willy Brandt (German Barat), Olof Palme (Sweden), Robert Hawke (Australia), dan Norman Kirk (New Zealand).

Takkanlah Presiden PAS sebegitu jahil sekali sehingga tidak dapat membezakan dua kumpulan pemimpin yang berbeza ini sehingga boleh menuduh yang pengisytiharan harta itu adalah satu konsep komunis dan sosialis yang dirancang oleh DAP.

Seperti yang telah dikatakan oleh Presiden DAPSY Saudara Howard Lee; Mesir, Maghribi, Palestin, Yaman, dan Libya semuanya adalah negara yang majoriti penduduknya beragama Islam dan pada masa yang sama mempunyai peruntukan yang mewajibkan pengisytiharan harta. Adakah negara-negara ini komunis ataupun sosialis?

Saya yakin Hadi tidak akan mengatakan yang negara-negara ini juga telah dipengaruhi DAP ataupun kini bukan lagi sebuah negara Islam kerana telah menjadi sebuah negara komunis ataupun sosialis — jelaslah ini menjadi bukti kecuaian Hadi terhadap kebenaran sesuatu fakta yang menjadi ciri utama kepimpinan Hadi dalam PAS dan pakatan PAS-UMNO/BN.

Kecuaian dalam terhadap fakta dan prinsip dalam kalangan pimpinan PAS telah mencapai satu tahap yang sangat teruk sehingga anak Arwah Tok Guru Nik Aziz sendiri berani mengatakan yang kleptokrat tersohor Datuk Seri Najib Razak lebih popular di kalangan rakyat berbanding dengan arwah ayahnya yang merupakan bekas Mursyidul Am PAS.

Pemimpin PKR Anwar Ibrahim juga telah menyekolahkan Hadi apabila beliau menjelaskan yang Umar Abdul Aziz juga telah mengiytiharkan harta beliau dan seluruh ahli keluarganya sesudah menjadi khalifah Umayyad yang ke-lapan demi memastikan ketelusan.

Ini merupakan contoh ke-tiga kecuaian Hadi dalam mencari kebenaran yang dikaburi dengan obsesi beliau untuk mencari kesalahan dan memburuk-burukkan DAP — semuanya kerana DAP menolak pencalonan Hadi sebagai bakal PM Pakatan Rakyat untuk PRU13 pada bulan Mei 2013.

Saya boleh berikan contoh ke-empat kecuaian Hadi. Semasa Pilihanraya Kecil Teluk Intan pada bulan Mei 2014, Hadi berkata DAP telah mempertahankan PAS pada tahun 1978 apabila kerajaan Kelantan jatuh ke tangan Barisan Nasional yang menyebabkan kekecohan dalam negeri tersebut.

Beliau berkata, BN yang berkerjasama dengan PAS ketika itu, tidak berbuat apa-apa langsung untuk membantu mereka.

Hadi telah berkata: “Hanya DAP yang membantu kami ketika itu dan kami berterima kasih kepada mereka untuk itu.

“Walaupun terdapat perbezaan di antara kita berkenaan dengan perkara-perkara seperti alkohol, khinzir, hudud, dan isu halal, kita juga mempunyai persamaan, untuk bersama menentang rasuah, kezaliman, dan untuk berjuang demi keadilan untuk semua rakyat.”

Tetapi, Hadi kini sudah berubah.

Beliau sudah lupa mengenai kepentingan untuk melawan rasuah, kezaliman, dan perjuangan demi keadilan untuk semua. Kini beliau menjadi jaguh kerjasama PAS-UMNO, yang kini diketuai oleh Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi — yang mencipta sejarah dalam sistem kehakiman negara dengan 87 pertuduhan jenayah berkaitan rasuah — dan kerjasama PAS dengan Barisan Nasional yang baru sahaja melantik seorang kleptokrat tersohor sebagai Pengerusi Badan Penasihat mereka!

(Kenyataan Media Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri di Parlimen pada hari Rabu 10 Julai 2019)

===============================

Communist leaders like Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Kim Il-Sung and Fidel Castro will turn in their graves if they know of  PAS President Datuk Seri Hadi Awang’s suggestion that socialists like Jawaharlal Nehru (India), Nelson Mandela (South Africa), Clement Attlee and Harold Wilson (UK), Willy Brandt (West Germany) Olof Palme (Sweden), Robert Hawke (Australia), Norman Kirk (New Zealand) should join the pantheon of communist leaders.

PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang cannot be so ignorant as not to know the difference between these two sets of leaders, but he is so reckless of the truth that he could say that declaring assets is a communist, socialist concept that may have been dreamt up by the DAP.

As the DAPSY leader Howard Lee Chuan How has rightly pointed out, Egypt, Morocco, Palestine, Yemen, Libya are among the countries  in the Arab world that have provisions for asset declarations.  Are they communist or socialist countries?

I do not believe Hadi regard these countries had been influenced by DAP or had   lost the right to be regarded as Muslim countries, having  become communist or socialistic – but this furnish another example of  Hadi’s recklessness about the  truth which has become the hallmark not only of the Hadi’s leadership of PAS, but also the PAS-UMNO/Barisan Nasional alliance.

The recklessness about the truth and principles among the PAS leadership has reached such an extent that Tok Guru Nik Aziz’s son could state that the global kleptocrat Datuk Seri Najib Razak is more popular than the former PAS spiritual leader.

PKR leader, Anwar Ibrahim, gave a lesson to Hadi when he pointed out that Umar Abdul Aziz, upon becoming the eighth Umayyad caliph, recorded the assets of his entire family in a show of transparency.

This provides a third example of Hadi’s recklessness of to  truth and history in his obsession to find fault with and to demonise the  DAP – all because the DAP rejected Hadi as the Pakatan Rakyat candidate for the post of  Prime Minister of Malaysia in the run-up to the 13th General Election in May 2013.

I can provide a fourth example of Hadi’s recklessness  to the truth. In the Teluk Intan by-election in May 2014, Hadi said it was DAP who defended PAS  in 1978 when the Kelantan government fell to Barisan Nasional, causing chaos within the state.

He said Barisan, that was working with PAS then, did nothing to help them.

Hadi had said: “Only DAP defended us that time and we are grateful to them.

“Even with our differences over alcohol, pork, hudud and halal matters, we have something in common, which is to stand up against corruption, injustice and to fight for fairness for all.”

But Had has now changed.

He forgets about the need to fight against corruption, injustice and to fight for fairness for all, and is the proponent of PAS co-operation with UMNO, which is led by Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi – who created history in the Malaysian courthouse facing a total of 87 criminal charges related to corruption – and PAS co-operation with Barisan Nasional which had just appointed  a global kleptocrat as Chairman of its advisory board!

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Wednesday, 10th July 2019)

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Tickled by Annuar Musa’s teaser – why not Najib? Kit Siang lost elections but remains DAP adviser

I am quite tickled by the teaser from the UMNO Secretary-General Annuar Musa – Why not Najib? Kit Siang lost elections but remains DAP adviser!

It has only confirmed that Annuar Musa is not a very bright chap.

In  defending Najib Abdul Razak’s appointment as chairperson of the BN advisory board, Annuar said  the embattled former premier is very much an asset to the coalition.

He said although BN lost the 14th general election under Najib, it does not mean he does not have useful experience to share.

He said:
 “We have to remember that Lim Kit Siang has been DAP adviser for many years. How many times has DAP lost in the past 13 general elections? Lim stayed on as their adviser.

“So this is a non-issue. Just because someone has lost once, this doesn’t mean the person is disqualified from becoming an adviser.”

Clearly, it is asking too much to expect Annual Musa to have the IQ to understand that I had never led DAP to any electoral loss because I was a global kleptocrat, as was Najib’s case.

The appointment of Najib as BN adviser, with the consent of UMNO, MCA and MIC (the three parties left in BN), only confirms the bankruptcy of BN parties, demonstrating that no UMNO, MCA or MIC leader regrets or is  remorseful about the ravages the monstrous global 1MDB scandal (which the US Attorney-General had condemned as “kleptocracy at its worst”)  and other rampant corruption in the past Najib administration had done to Malaysia’s development, credibility and future.

In a way, Malaysians must be thankful for the appointment of Najib as BN adviser, as it will be a constant reminder to Malaysians  that BN and the component parties of UMNO, MCA and MIC are   nothing more than 1MDB parties, which had existed to commit the 1MDB scandal and  now existing to defend and justify 1MDB corruption, abuses of power and money-laundering.

I hope Barisan Nasional will never change its mind on Najib’s appointment as BN adviser for Malaysians must constantly be reminded of such a “regressive” decision.

Let Barisan Nasional, UMNO, MCA and MIC be the most fervent advocates of the “Malu Apa Bossku?” campaign.

(Media Comment by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Thursday, 11th July 2019)

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Will Opposition MPs agree that the Constitution Amendment Bill to lower voting age  should include an enabling clause to empower the Election Commission  to redelineate electoral constituencies to end undemocratic and unfair gerrymandering and malapportionment of constituencies without having to wait for eight years?

Yesterday, I gave four examples where recklessness as to what is the truth have become a  curse in post-14th General Election politics in Malaysia – PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang’s saying declaring assets is a communist, socialist concept that may have been dreamt up by the DAP;  Tok Guru Nik Aziz’s son saying that  the global kleptocrat Najib Razak is more popular than the former PAS spiritual leader; Anwar Ibrahim’s lesson to Hadi when pointing out that Umar Abdul Aziz, upon becoming the eighth Umayyad caliph, recorded the assets of his entire family in a show of transparency; and the fact that it was DAP who defended PAS in 1978 when the Kelantan government fell to Barisan Nasional, causing chaos within the state.

It is such recklessness to the truth which informed and guided UMNO and PAS Members of Parliament in Dewan Rakyat.

Today, the Minister for Youth and Sports, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman re-tabled in Parliament the Constitution Amendment Bill to lower the voting age to 18, incorporating the Opposition’s two demands – automatic voter registration and the reduction of the  minimum age to be a member of the Dewan Rakyat from 21 to 18.

I am particularly pleased, as I  have been calling for the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18 and automatic voters’ registration as far back as 48 years ago in Parliament in 1971.

However, it is a fallacy to think that once the 2019 Constitution Amendment Bill is passed by both Houses of Parliament, given the Royal Assent and gazetted, any Malaysian above 18 years would be able to cast his vote in any general election or by-election in the country.

This is because the Constitution Amendment Bill to provide for  automatic voter registration is only an enabling provision which needs to be backed up by further legislation and administrative action to draw up an electoral roll before a Malaysian above 18 years could exercise the right to vote.

But this is not the only electoral reform that should be put in place.

I fully agree with the Merdeka Centre director, Ibrahim Suffian, who in a briefing to Opposition MPs, warned that expanding the electoral base without implementing electoral reforms, specifically with regard to how electoral boundaries are drawn, would only worsen the problem of malapportionment.

Suffiian said:

“You have constituencies that are really small in the rural areas, and you have constituencies that are very large in urban areas, so when you expand the voting age to 18, you will also sharpen the differences between the smaller and bigger constituencies.

“Expanding the electoral base will further worsen the malapportionment problem, so it should come together with making the sizes of constituencies fairer.

“Ideally… expanding the electoral base should also come along with electoral reforms.”

Will the Opposition MPs agree that the Constitution Amendment Bill to lower voting age  should include an enabling clause to empower the Election Commission  to redelineate electoral constituencies to end the undemocratic and unfair gerrymandering and malapportionment of constituencies, and not have to wait for the passage of eight years from the previous constituency redelineation to conduct a new redelineation?

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Thursday, 11th July 2019)

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Eureka – I just discovered I am not only omnipotent but omniscient and omnipresent as well

Eureka  I am not only omnipotent but also omniscient and omnipresent.

I never realised this but must thank the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak who revealed this  when carrying out his first duties as Barisan Nasional adviser in Pendang last night.

But I must protest, for he had sold me short.

Najib said that I am the “father” of Bersatu.  I am already accused of fathering  AMANAH.

What about being the “father” of PKR, which would have fit beautifully into Najib’s script that I had slaved my whole life to divide the Malays politically?

What a Trinity!

Hi Najjb, shall I plead guilty to fathering Warisan?

It’s a pity I could not claim paternity for PAS, as I was only 10 years old when it was formed unless I can claim an extraordinary

precocity!

Najib claimed that he had  been informed about my proposal to Mahathir to form Bersatu  by an individual who was present at the meeting when I made the proposal to create Bersatu.

I would not embarrass the new advisor of Barisan Nasional by asking him to produce this “individual” – which is like asking person with

an inflamed mind to produce the ghosts he sees in his delirium – for it would ended his tenure as BN adviser.

Najib should continue as BN adviser as it is an untold blessing all round.

But it is very painful and pathetic to see a former Prime Minister of Malaysia  reduced to such a mental case, although he could not have done more harm to the country than  what he had already done as Prime Minister, bringing infamy, ignominy and iniquity to the good name and reputation of Malaysia in the international society and plunging Malaysia along the trajectory of a failed, rogue and kleptocratic stated until saved by courageous Malaysians

in the historic 14th General Election on 9th May 2018!

(Media Statement (2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Saturday, 13th July 2019)

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To avoid the Wan Ji mishap from happening again, all DPPs  should read the Pakatan Harapan Manifesto on New Malaysia and seek any new instructions from the Attorney-General if they had queries especially with cases before the last general election

The clarification from Attorney-General Tommy Thomas that he was not aware of the prosecution’s cross-appeal in the sedition

case of independent preacher Wan Ji Wan Hussain until a new sentence was issued on Tuesday has laid to rest concerns about the commitment of Pakatan Harapan government to restore the principles of liberty and justice to  Malaysians.

This was why I had tweeted “Shocked by enhancement of Wan Ji’s sedition sentence. Injustice should be rectified.” on Tuesday itself, and my political secretary, Shahredzan

Johan had asked the prosecution to explain the reason for asking the court to enhance Wan Ji’s sentence.

To avoid the Wan Ji mishap from happening again, all DPPs  should read the Pakatan Harapan Manifesto on New Malaysia and seek any new instructions from the Attorney-General if they had queries especially with regard to cases before the last general elections.

(Media  Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on

Saturday, July 13, 2019)

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I am prepared to give Najib the  benefit of the doubt that he is a not full-blown mental case – but this would mean he is  an unscrupulous, unprincipled, Machiavellian  and incorrigible liar  without any of the noble values which great religions seek to imbibe in their followers!

I am prepared to give Datuk Seri Najib Razak the benefit of the doubt that he is not a full-blown mental case – but this would mean that he is an unscrupulous, unprincipled, Machiavellian and incorrigible liar without any of the noble values which the great religions seek to imbibe in their followers!

I shudder at the thought that our beloved nation has such a person as Prime Minister for nine years!

Najib said yesterday  he will only reveal the identity of the person, who he claimed had revealed my  plan on creating  Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, “if necessary”.

I will not bet Najib will be able do so, though if such a person exists, it will at least salvage  his credibility by one  iota that he had not manufactured such a lie from whole cloth,  and he could claim that he was only  guilty of the  shocking gullibility to fall for such a tall claim.

But such a fraudster who could convince a Prime Minister with such a tall tale is a person all Malaysians should know. Over to Najib, who is this person if there is one?

Najib is no innocent in the manufacture and peddling of lies and falsehoods, and he often used the UMNO General Assembly as a platform for such  dishonest and dishonourable pursuits.

Before the 14th General Election, he was the “father” of the army of cybertroopers who demonised the Opposition, and I estimate he must have spent tens or even hundreds of millions ringgit for this project which, among other things, gave him the confidence that he was going to win big in the 14th General Election, even regaining two-thirds parliamentary majority.

For a few months after the unexpected UMNO/BN defeat on  May 9, 2018, there was thunderous silence as  the army of cybertroopers disappeared from the social media scene.

But they have returned to the Malaysian social media  with a vengeance, which means that the funds for such an army of cybertroopers of lies and falsehoods have been reorganised and furnished – and it is going to be one of the biggest challenges of the Malaysian Communications and  Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to cleanse the Malaysian social media of such lies and falsehood aimed.

May be this is a tip for both the MCMC and the Police, to zero in on the funders and financiers of the cybertroopers of lies and falsehoods in the social media in the campaign to combat fake messages.

But clearly Najib is not prepared now  to depend solely on his cybertroopers, and he is himself spearheading the campaign of lies and falsehoods – starting with his monstrous lie that I had told Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to form Bersatu to split the Malays.

Even before the 14th General Election, I had been accused of being the mastermind of all Pakatan Harapan plans.

UMNO accused Tun Dr. Mahathir of being my stooge while MCA/Gerakan accused me of being Mahathir’s puppet.

Even now, the parties in Barisan Nasional cannot make up their mind as to who is whose stooge and puppet.

Tun Dr. Mahathir has just celebrated his 94th birthday, having  returned as the seventh Prime Minister after the historic decision of May 9, 2018 to “Save Malaysia”, and after having served as the fourth Prime Minister for over 22 years from 1981 – 2003.

Why should Mahathir  become my stooge, and how have I suddenly become so powerful as to become the “king-maker” in Malaysian politics, directing the actions and thoughts of Mahathir, the eighth Prime Minister-to-be Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and other political leaders including Deputy Prime Minister  Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Amanah President and Defence Minister, Mat Sabu?

I am 78 years old, dedicated myself to 53 years of full and active involvement in Malaysian politics because of my love for Malaysia to ensure that the country can become a model prosperous and democratic plural nation for the world.

I have been twice detained under the Internal Security, hauled to court countless times on trumped-up charges, my son Lim Guan Eng had been detained under the Internal Security Act  and gone to jail and lost his position as Member of Parliament to defend an underaged Malay girl and is now the Finance Minister after two terms as Penang Chief Minister.

Why should I become a puppet of Mahathir?

Both Mahathir and I have strong views and opinions. Mahathir is not my stooge and I am not his puppet. We co-operate as patriotic Malaysians who feel that we have to work together to Save Malaysia from becoming a global kleptocracy and hurtling towards a failed and rogue state.

The present batch of UMNO/BN leaders just do not understand that in politics, there are roles apart from being a stooge or a puppet, whether Najib-Liow Tiong Lai or now Najib-Wee Ka Siong mould.

If Malaysia is to succeed in its endeavour to create a New Malaysia, we must not allow UMNO/BN leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers to  drown Malaysia in an ocean  of lies and  falsehoods about  DAP and Pakatan Harapan  leaders in the Malaysian social media.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Sunday, 14th July 2019)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 14 July 2019, 7:21 pm and is filed under
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‘We saved the future on May 9’

New Straits Times

 By Adrian Lai, Arfa Yunus – July 14, 2019

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang has had an enduring presence in Malaysia’s political scene, beginning in the mid-1960s as a vocal member of the opposition. The idealistic politician has fought for various causes. More than half a century later, at 78, the Iskandar Puteri parliamentarian is still a big part of the nation’s political landscape. Lim, in an interview with New Straits Times , recaps the year that has been since Pakatan Harapan swept into power

Question
: After being in power for slightly more than a year, do you feel there’s still more work to be done?

Answer
: We are in a new scenario where 14 months after something very few of us expected to happen, we have brought about a peaceful and democratic transition of power, which I think very few had expected.

If you had asked me on the morning of May 9 (2018) whether there would be a change of government in the evening, I don’t think so, although I’ve spent the whole (election) campaign going up and down the country to bring about change.

And I think (Datuk Seri) Najib (Razak) also did not expect it. I think he felt he would not only win, but win with a two-thirds majority. Miraculously, we succeeded. It’s a miracle that the four parties were able to work together for 14 months.

There were those who had expected that we would disintegrate and implode within a few months. And now they are saying we will only last for half a term.

But I would like to see this government continue and win the next general election. And we must be committed to this objective.

What is important is that we succeeded in saving future generations on May 9. But the present generation must pay the price, at least for the next few years due to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)scandal and rampant corruption.

And a country that we can look to as an example is Venezuela.

Venezuela was one of the richest in the world about 40 years ago. It was the richest country in Latin America. It was a country that people in South America wanted to go to.

Forty years ago, they provided free education and medical services, but today, it’s poor, backward and bankrupt. According to the United Nations, up to one-tenth of its population have escaped from the country, even at the cost of their lives.

So we have to save the future generation from the fate of Venezuela.

Q:
 There seems to be a problem with communication in Pakatan Harapan (PH) because despite the allegations of corruption against Najib, he appears to be enjoying some popularity and support through the Malu apa bossku campaign, so much so that he was appointed as chief of Barisan Nasional’s advisory council.

A:
 On the one hand, I’m horrified. On another, I’m quite happy. How can a kleptocrat be the adviser of BN?

I don’t believe thinking Malaysians can resonate with that. I know there is a big crowd who support the Malu apa bossku campaign, but I believe that instead of competing with Umno and Pas’ three Rs — race, religion and royalty — we have to be courageous to explain the issues concerned.

For instance, there is a belief that the Malays are under threat. How can they be under threat?

If after 60 years of Umno rule and the Malays are still under threat, something is very wrong.

Who is threatening the Malays? DAP? Impossible.

That is their agenda. What (Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad) Zahid (Hamidi) and (Pas president Datuk Seri Abdul) Hadi (Awang) are trying to do is convey the message that Malays and Islam are under threat, and the devil is DAP.

Take for instance, (the Dewan Rakyat’s approval of a special motion for all members of parliament (MP), senators and immediate family members) to declare their assets.

And they claim it is something dreamt up by DAP, which is an agenda of the socialists and communists.

Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung and Fidel Castro would turn in their graves if they knew about Hadi associating socialist leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Nelson Mandela, Harold Wilson, Tony Benn and Bob Hawke with communism.

I think Hadi is ignorant of the truth. He demonises DAP and that’s the problem.

They are telling lies. I’ve been accused of being the mastermind of the whole government and that (Tun Dr) Mahathir (Mohamad) is my stooge.

On the other hand, in other sectors, I am Dr Mahathir’s stooge. So, is Dr Mahathir my stooge or am I his stooge? We are neither.

We have our own views and we respect each other’s views and, of course, the question is how can I work with Dr Mahathir.

I’ve never said he’s corrupt. You can go through all my statements. It’s all on record. I’ve never said Dr Mahathir is corrupt.

I would say there were instances of power abuse and all that, but there was one time before the election Dr Mahathir told me: “Sitting with you in public, I’ll lose a lot of Malay votes.”

And I told him: “Yes! I’ll lose a lot of non-Malay votes. Same thing.”

But we had to come together.

Q:
 What’s the difference between DAP then and now?

A:
 One basic difference between DAP in the past, when we were in the opposition, and DAP now is that in the past, we only thought about DAP because we were a single party, and we had to set our objectives and principles.

Now, we have to think about (the) parties in PH. We have to think not only about DAP, but also ensure that the PH government can succeed.

Q:
 DAP is a multiracial party but detractors disagree. They say the present leadership doesn’t reflect a multiracial party and it seems to contest mostly in Chinese-majority areas. Is there an effort to attract people of other races?

A:
When we started in 1966, we recognised we did not want a race-based party. We wanted to have a multiracial party, and that was our objective.

And that was reflected in our party leadership candidature in 1969. We had Malay candidates in parliamentary and state seats.

In fact, in 1969, we had two Malay assemblymen. But we had to face certain realities.

For instance, at the time, on the western seaboard, these were mostly non-Malay areas.

What is important is whether your vision and objective is a multiracial one. You cannot become a multiracial party overnight in terms of (gaining) a 70 per cent (Malay) membership and leadership, and reflect the country’s (racial composition).

It’s not possible. But the important thing is whether we are mindful that we must continue to not be a race-based party, but a multiracial party.

Over time, we broadened ourselves to be more multiracial. Of course, we are going to expand. As I said, there are certain limitations. Can you stand in a rural area in Kedah and Kelantan?

We’d like to, but I don’t think the other parties would agree. These are the problems that we face.

Q:
Do you think race-based parties in Malaysia are here to stay or do you think multiracial parties are the way forward?

A:
I think we should move towards a more multiracial objective: from race-based to multiracial parties. Actually, we are not asking Malaysians to forget their ethnic association, which is impossible. But to expect everyone to think as a Malaysian, not as a Chinese, an Indian, Malay or Kadazan overnight, I don’t think that’s possible.

Q:
Should race-based parties like Umno and Bersatu open their doors to other races, or should they be dissolved completely in the future?

A:
I think it’s a process. It’s not for me to tell other parties what to do. But we will move towards a more multiracial objective, a more Malaysian approach, because like it or not, we want Malaysia to succeed as a nation.

Q:
 Some say the recipe to achieve unity is to set up single-stream schools. What do you think about that?

A:
 You have countries where they speak one language and they still fight. It is the concept. Are these (vernacular and national) schools responsible for (racial) division? I don’t think so.

Are those from Chinese schools communists? Are they anti-Malaysia? They’re not.

In September last year, I was having a chat with Dr Mahathir. He just came back from his first trip to Beijing, China, and many Malaysian Chinese were present.

They were there for 10 to 15 years. And I told him: “These are Malaysian Chinese. They are not China Chinese. Their heart and soul is still Malaysian”.

They regard themselves as Malaysians, not Chinese.

Q:
 I put it to you that one day we will have a non-Malay prime minister. Do you see that as a reality in the future or do you aspire to see that happen?

A:
 It will come about when Malaysians don’t think themselves as Malays, Chinese, Indians. But I don’t see it happening in my lifetime. And my lifetime won’t be very long anyway. But anyway, to be realistic, I don’t see it like (Barack) Obama becoming the US president. That is the ideal (situation). After all, the Federal Constitution says anybody can become prime minister.

But to expect this to be realised overnight, I don’t think that is realistic.

Q:
 About your relationship with Dr Mahathir, people keep harping on how you two were enemies back then. For example, last time you asked Dr Mahathir to present a White Paper on the alleged corruption involving Maika Holdings. This is one of the examples. And many have asked whether you will push for this again. So, will you ask the cabinet for a White Paper or RCI for the old cases?

A:
 I think let’s deal with the building of a new Malaysia. I will not retract a single word of what I’ve said before. In the present situation, you have to build a new Malaysia where there’s freedom, democracy, justice and unity among Malaysians.

Q:
On the Maika Holdings scandal, a lot of people and families lost a lot of money. When will they get justice?

A:
Is your family involved in Maika? (Reporter said no). I am in no position to answer. I first raised the Maika scandal in the early 1990s and since then there’s been various developments (such as) MIC tried to save it and all that. So I’m unable to give you any updates. You ask when will they get justice? I can’t answer that question.

Q:
But will you continue fighting for them?

A:
 I fought for them. I raised the first issue. Any injustices or any wrongdoings will definitely be brought up. How are you going to deal with Maika scandal now, 30 years after? I think it’s a separate issue. I can’t answer you, to be frank.

Q:
Do you think Dr Mahathir needs more time as prime minister before he hands over the reins to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim?

A:
I think PH has decided upon the timetable, I’m sure it is on track. I think it’s agreed upon and Mahathir himself said that he will keep his promise, so there’s no reason to think otherwise.

Q:
 When there was a talk about Anwar not taking over, you offered some comments, right?

A:
I did say something that, that is our collective promise and there’s no reason to think otherwise and I don’t think we should add salt on it. I think adding salt is the job of journalists and leader writers and not politicians.

Q:
 What is your narrative to counter people’s criticisms of your relationship with Dr Mahathir, to show people that you’re still your own man?

A:
 Why should I counter that and why should I be obsessed with it? Before the election, I was accused of taking RM1 billion from Mahathir so that we can accept him. One of these days, I’m going to ask him: “Where’s my money?” (laughs).

I think there are a lot of lies and falsehoods flying around. And one way is to respond to these falsehoods. Another way is to ignore them. There are more important things in life. That is the problem with Malaysian politics today. One problem we faced after the election is that the more lies and falsehoods have increased manifold on social media.

And whether you are honest, straightforward or responsible, the people can judge you over a period of time.

Q:
 I’m quite curious. You recently met Dr Mahathir. What did you discuss?

A:
Surely, you don’t expect me to tell you. But many papers write about my meeting with him. So be it. I read one piece by (Datuk Dr) Puad Zarkashi. That’s fantastic (smiles).

Q:
 Umno and BN have been in power for 60-odd years, but if you look at other democracies, there are continuous changes in government. Do you want to see PH in power for a long period or is it healthier for the government to switch hands from time to time?

A:
I would like to see the growth of a healthy democratic culture. That’s why we are lowering the voting age from 21 to 18. And there are people who say this is committing political suicide because young people are anti-establishment. And maybe that’s the reason why in the last 60 years, the Constitution was not amended.

What is good for the country may not be good for PH unless PH can rise up to the challenge and is able to make young people aware of the idealism and take ownership of the new Malaysia.

It’d be good if you have a multi-party coalition alternation of power. But first of all, PH should have enough time to implement its mission and ideals of a new Malaysia, which will take maybe two or three election cycles.

After that, it’s good to change. There’s always the tendency for people to overreach. All over the world, history has shown us good men and women begin to make mistakes when they overreach after they are in power.

Q:
The lowering of the voting age and also to pursue this automatic voter registration (AVR) will see more Malays who were not previously registered get into the electoral roll. This will properly reflect the demography in the country.

A:
I proposed declaration of assets and compulsory voting back in the 1970s in the Parliament as it will be more reflective of the actual population. But it is a challenge. You have to reach out and explain, be more conscious of their needs. They are more idealistic and I think we must not lose our idealism.

Q:
 Do you think them being automatically registered will compel young people to vote? Or will there be some work to be done on the party’s part to encourage people to come out?

A:
No, firstly there’s a problem present, (which is) the bureaucratic problem on the registration of voters. In the past, there was an attempt to not only gerrymander but (also) to ensure that in areas where BN have no confidence (of winning), there will be a reduced registration of voters. But we want to liberate ourselves from all these considerations and everyone has the right to be registered and we want to have AVR. It should result in more young voters going to vote but all parties would have to have campaigns to explain to the young people that they deserve their support.

Q:
 Do you not think that, a stronger Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia with having more MPs joining the party will ease the insecurities of Malay voters?

A:
I think insecurities of any segment of the population do not necessarily associate with the number of MPs of any political parties.

Q:
What do you think of the ministers and deputy ministers from DAP? How would you gauge their performance thus far?

A:
 I prefer not to gauge their performance. Because by gauging their performance, I will also be reflecting the performance of other ministers and deputy ministers. I think our ministers and deputy ministers are dedicated, hardworking and resourceful.

Q:
 What do you think of the political climate now compared to when you first started? Do you think the country is moving towards the right direction?

A:
 We are in a transition, moving on from 60 years of the past to a new future and whether we can create that new future. I think this is a very challenging (work) to be done. Standing in the way will be the politics of lies (as well as) race and religion hatred because all of these (behaviour) disregard what is true, what is correct and what is known.

Stop telling lies like the DAP is anti-Malay, DAP is a demon and that the government is controlled by the DAP because it’s not. DAP is part of the four-party government. We must be able to get all of these clarified. If not, if PH fails and the people want to revert back to the old parties we are going to have a very chaotic era. It will be filled with uncertainties and lack of direction.

Q:
On that note, sex scandals and Malaysian politics seem to be intertwined. Eg: Anwar in late 90s and recently the scandal involving Datuk Seri Azmin Ali. What was your and DAP’s initial reaction to this? Would you describe it as false or better to just leave it to authorities to investigate?

A:
There are a lot of issues that would distract the leaders and people from the business at hand (such as on) building a new Malaysia, bringing about institutional reform, improving the economy and ensuring unity among Malaysians. At present there are a lot of distractions (especially with) the presence of social media. But I think all leaders should continue to be committed to these businesses at hand and not be distracted by extraneous circumstances.

Q:
 Parti Perikatan back then morphed into a 13-party coalition. Do you see PH heading towards that direction? Is it something that is on the table?

A:
At present we have four parties and we have (cooperation with) Warisan. It’s difficult to say, but I don’t think we will end up as 13-party coalition. Whether it (PH) will expand to include others (like) Warisan, I think it’s something to be (looked into) when the time comes. It is something to be dealt with but it’s difficult to forecast now.

Q:
 How does DAP fund its party? Because there have been discussions on how Bersatu should go about this.

A:
 DAP has always been short of funds. The difference is, we don’t spend the way BN parties do. Whatever funds we have, it always comes from the people’s contribution. We have the ‘Milo tin’ going around. We don’t require what Umno divisions get where they receive allocations about RM30,000 to RM50,000 for each division, which is to us is a great luxury, a fantastic amount. We don’t have money and we operate on minimal expenditure as the money is all from the people. We don’t require or spend hundreds of millions and even when you do this, you can’t be sure whether you will get the support or not.

Q:
 How about MPs and State Assemblymen (Adun) of DAP? Do they contribute?

A:
 Every MP and Aduns (in DAP) have to allocate a percentage of their allowances to contribute to the party and this is how we get (funds). In other parties, when they nominate candidates, they give them money for the deposits and expenditures, but in our case, you find your own deposit and your own funds because we don’t have money for you. It’s not in our culture to simply give money away. It’s a different culture altogether.

Q:
 Are you not conscious of the danger of some people in DAP being tempted by corruption?

A:
Yes you are correct. We are conscious. There’s an overreach in many ways to succumb to various temptations. I think these are the things that we must be aware of. You have to ask why you are in politics. Is it to serve yourself or to serve a larger cause of the people? But some way along the line, it gets blurred and you cross the line. Human beings are human beings.

Q:
We don’t see too much competition during the DAP party election compared to Umno and Bersatu’s polls where we see long episodes of brawls and chair throwing which shows democracy.

A:
So democracy is equated to chair throwing? If there’s no democracy, Tony (Pua) won’t be thrown out (from Selangor DAP committee). So it is democratic just minus the process of chair throwing.

Q:
 It seems that DAP is always too disciplined and too cohesive when an issue arises and that it keeps to a certain script.

A:
 This is over reading. You shouldn’t overreach and over read.

Q:
 YB, how do you feel as a father to see your son becoming the finance minister?

A:
 He has to prove and perform and all the more, he should establish himself as a credible and good finance minister. As for the judgement, I’ll leave it to other people.

Q:
 Are you considering retiring or taking a break since you refuse to take up any position in the government?

A:
 Well, that has always been on my mind. But when it’s going to take place, (I can’t say).

Q:
So, you can’t give a timeframe on when you will retire?

A:
 I will tell you tomorrow if I have made plans. This is a difficult thing but of course eventually I would have to retire. But when? I can’t make a decision now. But like it or not, there will come a time when you will have to retire. You don’t want to be like (General Douglas) MacArthur. He died as the general.

Q:
 Your wife never asked you to retire? She never merajuk (sulk)?

A:
 You’d have to ask my wife la.

Q:
 On a lighter note, do you still play Pokemon Go?

A:
 (Unlocked his phone and showed his Pokemon Go. One of the writers shouted “What! Level 40!”) Oh, this level 40 (is from) a long time ago (since he last played).

Q:
 We’re wondering if you still have space for new friends on Pokemon Go?

A:
 Yes, come, please do (add).

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 14 July 2019, 2:54 pm and is filed under
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Crying national shame that while the world is trying to get to the bottom  of the heinous global  1MDB scandal, there are still Malaysian leaders  trying to keep the veil on the 1MDB scandal and prevent open scrutiny of the scandal

It is a crying national shame that while the world is trying to get to the bottom of the heinous global 1MDB scandal, described by United States Attorney-General Jeff Sessions as “kleptocracy at is worst”, there are still

Malaysian leaders trying to keep the veil on the 1MDB scandal and prevent an open scrutiny of the scandal.

Last week, it was reported that Germany’s Deutsche Bank was being investigated by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) for its work with 1Malaysia Development Bhd, including helping

the state investor raise US$1.2 billion (RM4.95 billion) in 2014.

The probe into Deutsche Bank’s alleged

corruption and money-laundering in connection with the 1MDB scandal  is being assisted by former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner, who last year pleaded guilty for his role in the massive scandal.

Deutsche Bank, in a statement, has  said it “cooperated fully” in the 1MDB enquiries, and highlighted asset forfeiture documents filed earlier by DoJ that showed the Malaysian firm had misled the bank.

Deutsche Bank is the latest international bank

to be dragged into the 1MDB scandal – the others being Goldman Sachs Group Inc, which now faces criminal charges and demands of billions in damages. The 143-year-old BSI, one of the oldest in Switzerland, has been closed.  Falcon Bank and its former Swiss CEO is under criminal investigation and numerous others have been fined and censured.

But in Malaysia, there are still  leaders who are fighting every inch of the way to maintain the veil of secrecy over the 1MDB scandal, playing to the discredited  script of the former  Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak until he was ignominiously ousted from power on May 9, 2018.

One such  example was the attempt last week by the Barisan Nasional, through their MCA Member of Parliament, to prevent any discussion

of the 1MDB scandal in Parliament.

Even more shocking, the global 1MDB scandal

has not prevented the appointment of the 1MDB global kleptocrat Najib as Barisan Nasional adviser, which has created quite a ruckus in UMNO itself but not in MCA or MIC.

According to  Nazri Aziz and Khairy Jamalauddin,  Najib had wanted to be  the Barisan Nasional Chairman but he was shunted off to the post of  BN adviser by the UMNO President, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi without consultation with other BN leaders.

It is odd that the  two former UMNO Ministers objected to Najib’s appointment as Barisan Nasional adviser while MCA which had less than a year ago threatened to “kick out” UMNO from the Barisan Nasional if it “coddles” with PAS leaders to form an unholy pact in post-14th General Elections, now supports both kleptocracy and theocracy.

Since his appointment as BN adviser last Tuesday, Najib had eclipsed  the UMNO,

MCA and MIC Presidents put  together  in his visits to various parts of the country and

any visitor  from Mars would say that the

leader of Barisan Nasional is Najib and nobody else.

I have no objection to this phenomenon, for it

is the recipe for electoral catastrophe, as it is based on the fallacy that Malaysians are fervent supporters of the toxic combination of  kleptocracy and  a theocracy in which  lies are permissible and corruption is no sin – as the greatest supporter of Najib is none other than the PAS President Datuk Seri Hadi Awang.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Monday, July 15, 2019)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 15 July 2019, 7:32 am and is filed under
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I have instructed my lawyers to accept service of Apandi’s suit giving  Malaysians at last the opportunity to get answers why Apandi had been totally inactive as Malaysian Attorney-General  after the US DoJ’s largest kleptocratic forfeiture suit over 1MDB scandal

I have instructed my lawyers, Ramkarpal Singh of Karpal Singh & Co. to accept service of the RM10 million plus  defamation suit by the former Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali.

When I read of Apandi’s suit in media yesterday, I have not received Apandi’s statement of claim.

Apandi is asking for RM10 million damages, as well as other damages, for one line in my statement of May 6 during the Sandakan by-election this year where I had asked him to explain why he “aided and abetted” in the 1MDB scandal.

I will contest Apandi’s suit, but it is a matter of relief that Malaysians now will have the opportunity to get answers why Apandi had been totally inactive as Malaysian Attorney-General  after the US Department of Justice’s  (DoJ) filed its largest kleptocratic forfeiture suit (US$1.7 billion out of US$4.5 billion 1MDB-linked assets) over the 1MDB scandal.

Three events in the past five days are foremost in my mind when I think of Apandi’s suit.

Today, it was reported that Hollywood producer Joey McFarland had surrendered several gifts he received from Riza Aziz, the stepson of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, which were allegedly acquired using stolen 1MDB funds.

According to Bloomberg, the items include a vintage French King Kong poster, a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting and several luxury watches.

The value of the items was not stated, but according to the US Department of Justice forfeiture suit, Riza allegedly spent US$5.4 million (RM22.18 million) on collectable movie posters, some of which he gave to McFarland, actor Leonardo DiCaprio and film director Martin Scorsese.

McFarland and Riza co-founded Red Granite Pictures, which financed the film The Wolf of Wall Street starring DiCaprio and directed by Scorsese. The DOJ  claimed that Red Granite used stolen 1MDB funds to finance the film.

Last year, the company agreed to pay US$60 million (RM246.5 million) to settle the case, without admission of liability.

Secondly, reports that the board of trustees of the Yayasan Rahah, which was named in Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s  (MACC) 1MDB-related civil forfeiture suit, is seeking an out of court settlement over the matter.

Yayasan Rahah, which is named after former premier Najib Abdul Razak’s mother Rahah Mohammad Noah, runs welfare and education programmes for children and the Orang Asli.

It is among 41 individuals and groups from whom MACC is seeking to forfeit assets worth a total of RM270 million.

According to court documents, the suit against Yayasan Rahah is seeking to forfeit RM839,489.82.

Thirdly, the US Department of Justice is investigating Germany’s Deutsche Bank over its involvement in the 1MDB scandal.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the probe will look into whether Deutsche Bank violated foreign corruption or anti-money-laundering laws when it helped 1MDB raise US$1.2 billion in 2014.

All these three episodes in the past five days raise a common question: Why was Apandi inactive on the 1MDB scandal when he was Attorney-General?

In fact, when the US DoJ first filed its kleptocratic litigation of forfeiture of 1MDB-linked assets in July 2016, I had occasion to ask Apandi to explain why the 17-point Q&A on the Malaysian Attorney-General’s Chambers website on the US Department of Justice (DOJ) legal suits for forfeiture of 1MDB-linked  assets in the United States had been taken down two days after it was uploaded.

Although the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was not named in the DOJ suits, a person referred to as  “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” was mentioned 36 times – a person who was identified as the Prime Minister.

As the AGC’s 17-point Q&A as good as acknowledged that “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” was Najib, I had asked  Apandi to  explain  why the Attorney-General’s Chambers sought to rebut only 17 of the references to “MALAYSIA OFFICIAL 1” in the US DOJ suits and not to all the 36 references although all the 17 rebuttals were unsatisfactory and unconvincing.

When in June 2017, Apandi reacted in a matter of hours to the  expanded US DoJ  kleptocratic forfeiture litigation of 1MDB-linked assets, and said  there was nothing new and to expressed his regret about “insinuations” against the then  Prime Minister in the DOJ’s expanded 1MDB forfeiture suit, I had informed Apandi that they were not “insinuations” but  “open and direct charge by the United States Government that the Prime Minister had lied when he claimed that the RM2.6 billion donations had come from Saudi Arabian royalty”.

Noting that Apandi must be quite a speed reader, I asked whether he had  read the ten “killer paragraphs” – Paragraph 339 to 348 under the section “$681 MILLION WAS TRANSFERRED FROM THE TANORE ACCOUNT TO AN ACCOUNT BELONGING TO MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” –  in the US DOJ’s latest 1MDB kleptocratic suit to forfeit 1MDB-linked assets because of the crime of money-laundering.

This was because the “killer paragraphs” in the US DoJ suit  as good as linked Najib Razak’s RM2.6 billion “donations” to 1MDB money-laundering, debunking the claim that they were donations from Saudi Arab royalty and that US$620 million had been returned to Saudi Arabian donor.

There was only thunderous silence from Apandi at the time.

Now, we can get the answers in the courts.

(Media Statement (2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Tuesday, 16th July 2019)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 16 July 2019, 4:47 pm and is filed under
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Should Najib, Hamidah or both go to Tanjong Rambutan?

I fully agree with the Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad that those who believe that I was the mastermind in  the formation of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia should go  to Tanjong Rambutan.

The question is whether it is  Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the former Prime Minister or Hamidah Othman,  former Bersatu leader who should go or both should go to Tanjong Rambutan!

Hamidah Othman, former Bersatu vice president,  said she was the person who told Najib that I had pitched the idea of setting up Bersatu to Mahathir at Perdana Leadership Foundation on March 4, 2016, “after it became apparent that the People’s Declaration movement to depose Najib” had failed to gain traction

Hamidah is a very poor liar and has no respect for the sanctity of dates and events.

March 4, 2016 was the first time that I appeared in a public gathering with Mahathir to sign and launch the People’s Declaration to Save Malaysia from  global kleptocracy  and nobody in the right senses would talk about the People’s Declaration not having any traction on the very first day of its signing and launch.

Furthermore, I am not aware of any meeting at Perdana Leadership Foundation on March 4, 2016, which is a complete concoction of Hamidah.  The People’s Declaration was launched at the University of Malaya Alumni Club House on March 4, 2016 and I am not aware of any mythical meeting of that date at the Perdana Leadership Foundation which I allegedly attended.

The signatories of the People’s Declaration, apart from Mahathir and me, included  Muhyiddin Yassin, Mukhriz Mahathir, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, Ling Liong Sik, Azmin Ali, Nurul Izzah Anwar, Rafizi Ramli, Mohamad Sabu, Salahuddin Ayub, Ambiga Seenivasagam and Maria Chin Abdullah.

At the launch of the People’s Declaration, the thrust was to get Najib to resign as Prime Minister and nobody thought about forming a new political party. In fact, Muhyiddin was still UMNO Deputy President until he was sacked from UMNO three months later  in June 2016.

Besides demanding that Najib be removed as Prime Minister, the Declaration also touched on freedom of speech and a free media. The main points of the Declaration were:

· The removal of Najib Razak as the prime minister of Malaysia through non-violent and legally permissible means;

· The removal of all those who have acted in concert with him;

· A repeal of all recent laws and agreements that violate the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Federal Constitution, and;

· A restoration of the integrity of the institutions that have been undermined, such as the police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Bank Negara and the Public Accounts Committee.

The Declaration included several key reasons for its demands:

· Concern over the deteriorating political, economic and social situation in the country;

· Damage done to the country under the premiership of Najib Razak;

· Malaysia becoming one of the 10 most corrupt countries in the world, according to Ernst and Young in their Asia Pacific Fraud Survey Report Series 2013. The 2015 Corruption Perception Index showed Malaysia had dropped four places from 50 to 54; and,

· Allocations to all ministries and public institutions, including universities, have been reduced because of shortage of funds. Even when allocations were budgeted for, no money was available.

Hamidah’s tall tale about my being the mastermind in the formation of Bersatu was clearly a wedding gift for Najib for him and Rosmah Mansor  attending last weekend’s wedding of  Hamidah’s daughter in Ipoh.

But Najib has  proved to be the biggest sucker to believe Hamidah.

Despite all the tens or even hundreds of millions of ringgit which Najib had spent on gathering intelligence when he was Prime Minister, how could he believe that the proposal for Bersatu was mooted as early as March 2016, when it was several  months after the launch of the People’s Declaration in March 2016 that Bersatu was formed.

Two events were responsible for the formation of Bersatu:

(i) The landslide victory of UMNO in two by-elections in Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar on 18th June 2016 which infected Najib with the virus of hubris that eventually led to his downfall in the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018. If Najib had dissolved Parliament immediately after the Barisan Nasional victory on May 7, 2016 and the two by-elections in Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar on June 18, 2016, UMNO/BN would have been returned to power and God forbid, Najib would still be the Prime Minister. Najib’s hubris saved Malaysia – for Najib believed he could win big, even regain two-thirds parliamentary majority, with new redelineation of electoral constituencies. So he waited until May 2018.

(ii) The sacking from UMNO  of Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin, the UMNO Deputy President, and Mukhriz Mahathir, former Kedah Mentri Besar on 24th June 2016.

If anything, these two events fathered the formation of Bersatu. Can  Najib claim paternity for Bersatu!

It  is most reprehensible and deplorable that Najib’s is peddling the Hamidah canard in his campaign to generate distrust and hatred among the races, not realising that he had in the process committed a great slander  on the Malay race, believing that the Malays are incapable of thinking and are such simpletons as to fall for his lies and falsehoods.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Tuesday, 16th Juy 2019)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 16 July 2019, 12:41 pm and is filed under
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Lowering of voting age to 18 years a historic occasion for Malaysia and  a wish come true for me  48 years after my first raising the issue in Parliament in 1971

The unanimous parliamentary support for the constitutional amendment to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 years is a historic occasion for Malaysia and a wish come true for me 48 years after my first raising the issue in Parliament in 1971.

In 1971, when I raised the issue in an adjournment speech,  the countries which had already given the right to vote to their 18-year-olds included the United Kingdom, Turkey, Poland, Canada and Germany.

The countries which had lowered the voting age of 21 to 18 since my speech in Parliament on the issue in 1971 included the Netherlands, United States, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Philippines, Australia, France, New Zealand, Italy, Trinidad and Tobago, Denmark, Spain, Peru, Belgium, India, Switzerland, Austria, Estonia, Hong Kong, Liechtenstein, Jordan, Pakistan, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Japan.

If the DAP is a racist Chinese political party which dominated the Pakatan Harapan government, as is preached by leaders of an irresponsible political alliance of klepto-theocracy, the DAP would have stopped the constitutional amendment in its tracks, as there would be a greater increase of Malay voters as compared to Chinese voters because of the demographic composition in the country.

It is time however for Malaysians to think of themselves  not just as Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans and Ibans, but even more important, think of themselves as Malaysians who share the common dream to make Malaysia a top world-class nation which is respected by the world for our democracy, good governance, social justice  and economic prowess.

It has been said that the lowering of  the voting age to 18 will be beneficial to the opposition and detrimental to the government of the day, as youths are generally anti-establishment and anti-government, and this was why the Malaysian Constitution was never amended in the past six decades to  empower  the youths.

But the Pakatan Harapan government has  demonstrated that it will act in the best interests of the country, although it might be detrimental to the interests of the Harapan coalition with the talk that Pakatan Harapan is committing political suicide with the passage of the constitutional amendment yesterday.

The enfranchisement of Malaysians from 18 year-olds will be a reminder and challenge to the Pakatan Harapan government and  leadership that Pakatan Harapan  must deliver on the  promise in the 14th General Election as set out in the Election Manifesto  to reset nation-building policies to build a New Malaysia which is a top world-class nation respected by the world for our democracy, good governance, social justice and economic prowess.

The Pakatan Harapan government and leadership must embark on a programme to engage the youths in the  country and enlist their support in the building of a New Malaysia.

It is not possible to undo the corruption, abuses of power and injustices of six decades in  a year or two, as it is a mission which will take more than one election cycle.

But we must be able to convince all Malaysians, including the newly enfranchised and empowered youths, that Pakatan Harapan is on track to build a New Malaysia, and that the five pillar-promises as contained in the Pakatan Harapan election manifesto in the 14th General Election remain our lodestar and guiding principle.

The five pillar-promises of a New Malaysia are:

· Reduce the people’s burden.

· Institutional and political reforms.

· Spur sustainable and equitable economic growth.

· Return Sabah and Sarawak to the status accorded in Malaysia Agreement 1963.

· Create a Malaysia that is inclusive, moderate and respected globally.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Wednesday, 17th July 2019)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 17 July 2019, 1:00 pm and is filed under
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An Evil Stalking the Land

The 12-day meeting of July 2019 Parliament ends today with two great feats – the Constitution Amendment Bill to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 years and the first reading of the long-awaited Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) Bill.

The unanimous parliamentary support for the constitutional amendment to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 years is a historic occasion for Malaysia and a wish come true for me 48 years after my first raising the issue in Parliament in 1971.

In 1971, when I raised the issue in an adjournment speech, the countries which had already given the right to vote to their 18-year-olds included the United Kingdom, Turkey, Poland, Canada and Germany.

The countries which had lowered the voting age of 21 to 18 since my speech in Parliament on the issue in 1971 included the Netherlands, United States, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Philippines, Australia, France, New Zealand, Italy, Trinidad and Tobago, Denmark, Spain, Peru, Belgium, India, Switzerland, Austria, Estonia, Hong Kong, Liechtenstein, Jordan, Pakistan, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Japan.

If the DAP is a racist Chinese political party which dominated the Pakatan Harapan government, as is preached by leaders of an irresponsible political alliance of klepto-theocracy, the DAP would have stopped the constitutional amendment in its tracks, as there would be a greater increase of Malay voters as compared to Chinese voters because of the demographic composition in the country.

It is time however for Malaysians to think of themselves  not just as Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans and Ibans, but even more important, think of themselves as Malaysians who share the common dream to make Malaysia a top world-class nation which is respected by the world for our democracy, good governance, social justice  and economic prowess.

What has been disturbing thinking Malaysians, however,  is that a new evil is stalking the land, flying the flag of klepto-theocracy, seeking to destroy the new unity of Malaysians who made  the historic decision of the 14th General Election to create a New Malaysia with a peaceful and democratic change of Federal government –  the first time in six decades.

This new evil stalking the land wants destroy the unity of Malaysians by inciting distrust and hatred, particularly race against race and religion against religion, and destroy the hope of Malaysians for a New Malaysia of unity, excellence, freedom, justice and integrity and is totally immoral.

I have composed a poem on this new evil stalking the land:

An evil stalking the land

On May 9, 2018, history was made

Malaysians saved the nation from kleptocracy

And the fate of a  failed and rogue state

Ensure Malaysians in future will not suffer like Venezuelans of today.

A beginning was made to build a New Malaysia

Of  unity, excellence,  freedom, justice and integrity

Of Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or status

A top world-class nation respected by the world!

But klepto-theocracy has come  as a new evil stalking the land

Block the reset of nation-building policies

Sow distrust and hatred among Malaysians,

Pit race against race, religion against religion.

Swamp Parliament and nation with lies and falsehoods

Like  DAP is  the master of  Pakatan Harapan Government,

That DAP is Chinese, Christian and Communist,

Out to destroy Malay race and Islamic faith.

Such  exploitation of 3Rs issues failed in the 14GE,

Now they have returned with vengeance rising to new pitch

Of abuse and  manipulation in  3R politicking

Let us  crush these desperadoes to fly high the flag of New Malaysia.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Thursday, 18th July 2019)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 18 July 2019, 4:55 pm and is filed under
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