Media statement by Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, 4^th December 2011: 

Who lied – Najib/Muhyiddin or Chua Soi Lek? Or all three?

The 65^th UMNO General Assembly closed yesterday with one big question among thinking and patriotic Malaysians, regardless of political affiliation: - “Who lied – Najib/Muhyiddin or Chua Soi Lek? Or all three?”

At first the lies and poison were only told and used at closed-door UMNO meetings. Then they were spread by anonymous UMNO blogs and cybertroopers on the Internet, followed by the UMNO media.

When these lies and poison failed to achieve the desired public and political impact with the approach of the 13^th General Elections, UMNO strategists became more irresponsible, reckless and desperate.

In the past week, these lies and poison became the staple diet of UMNO leaders in the meetings preparatory to and during the sessions proper of the 65^th UMNO General Assembly, with the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, in their capacities as UMNO President and UMNO Deputy President giving their personal stamp of approval by adopting and retailing these lies and poison to sway votes in favour of UMNO in the coming polls.

Culminating in Muhyiddin and Najib, one UMNO leader after another in the past week have taken to the public pulpit in a carefully-orchestrated campaign to demonise the DAP and frighten Malay voters with the lies that the Malays will lose their rights and power should Pakatan Rakyat win more federal seats in the next general election, or in the words of the UMNO information chief Datuk Ahmad Maslan, “the Malay language will be lost, say goodbye to the Malay Sultans, Say goodbye to Islam because they (DAP) are agents of Christianisation”.

Muhyiddin was completely unabashed in playing the race card when he falsely accused the DAP of being anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Malay Rulers, even telling the lie that the DAP's agenda is to establish a Republic in Malaysia.

Muhyiddin made history as the only Deputy Prime Minister in the world who was caught out telling a bare-faced lie, for he had been completely silent to my challenge to him to substantiate his allegation that the DAP wanted to abolish the constitutional monarchy and establish a Republic.

I had publicly said that Muhyiddin's “despicable, irresponsible, incendiary and seditious” allegation that the DAP's agenda is to form a republic is completely founded on a lie, particularly his rhetorical question to buttress his allegation:

“If not, do they dare to suggest the prime minister's position be selected based solely on elections and without being chosen by the Yang di Pertuan Agong? What is the meaning of this?” (Muhyiddin quote)

This suggestion and rhetorical question are a complete figment of Muhyiddin's imagination (or that of his ghost writer) and show the length certain irresponsible, unprincipled and unscrupulous UMNO leaders are prepared to go in order to tell lies and spread poison to mislead, scare and panic the voters in multi-racial Malaysia.

This is certainly not the action of an honest, honourable, principled and patriotic Malaysian political leader.

As I had declared for the record in my immediate response on Wednesday to Muhyiddin's falsehood, DAP had never proposed that “the Prime Minister's position be selected based solely on elections and without being chosen by the Yang di Pertuan Agong”.

Right from the beginning, the DAP had declared in Parliament in my first speech 40 years ago in Parliament on Feb. 23, 1971 that DAP fully supported the system of constitutional monarchy and that we “do not and have not questioned the sovereignty of Rulers”.

In his winding-up speech yesterday as UMNO President, Najib adopted the Muhyiddin and UMNO lie that DAP is manipulating PKR and PAS, specifically alleging that PAS is “under the thumb” of DAP.

This line of allegation is totally at variance with the accusations which the MCA President Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek and his cohorts have been hurling against the DAP – that the DAP is the stooge of the PAS.

Who has lied? Najib and Muhyiddin or Chua Soi Lek?

The UMNO and MCA leaders cannot all be telling the truth – as the DAP cannot be a stooge of PAS and PAS also a stooge of DAP one and the same time.

Either UMNO or MCA leaders have lied.

There is of course another scenario – which is the true and correct position. Najib, Muhyiddin and Chua Soi Lek have all lied.

Unlike Barisan Nasional where UMNO is the hegemon and the other Barisan Nasional political parties completely subservient to UMNO agenda and interests, Pakatan Rakyat is a coalition of equal political parties based on mutual respect and political consensus founded on common policy programmes founded on the fundamental features of the Malaysian Constitution.

In Pakatan Rakyat, no political party plays the role of Big Brother like UMNO in Barisan Nasional – which means that Najib, Muhyiddin and Chua Soi Lek have all been perpetuating lies in their struggle to keep their political parties alive in the next general election.

The Malays will not lose power when PR win more seats in the next general election as those who will really lose power will be UMNO and UMNO-putras.

In fact, the ordinary Malays stand to gain more rights and power when PR win more seats in the next general elections as UMNO and UMNO-putras will have to return and surrender the rights and power that they have seized and hijacked from the ordinary Malays in the past few decades.

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader & MP for Ipoh TimorTimor