Sin Chew interview only exposed Annuar Musa as a “Little Trump” purveying disinformation and fake news

The Sin Chew interview of the sacked Barisan Nasional secretary-general Tan Sri Annuar Musa exposed him as a “Little Trump” purveying disinformation and fake news, even when he had been elevated to Ministerial rank.

Annuar gave three reasons why UMNO should not ally with DAP.

Annuar is the most hard-core top UMNO leader who had been going around accusing the DAP of being anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Royalty – all despicable lies.

He even held a writing contest to invite contributions on how DAP was a danger to Malays and Islam in Malaysia.

If Annuar believed in what he preached, and not a mere political opportunist, this should rank as his first reason why UMNO should not ally with DAP.

But he did not breathe a word of this in his three reasons why UMNO should not ally with DAP.

In the United States of America, twice-impeached Donald Trump is ending his four-year US presidency and assault on truth, banned by Facebook, Google and Twitter.

A recent CNBC analysis of Trump’s tweets during his presidency found that his most popular and frequent posts largely spread disinformation and distrust. Many of his most-liked tweets contained falsehoods, while the topic he posted about most frequently, “fake news,” was a weapon for undermining information.

But we have a Minister who in 2017 expressed sympathy with US President Donald Trump with regard to the proliferation of “fake news” on the social media in the US, giving another example to the saying “Birds of the same feather flock together”.

Trump is ending his reign of disinformation and fake news in the United States in a few days, but in Malaysia we have ”Little Trumps” like Annuar Musa running around poisoning Malaysians politics as well as inter-racial and inter-religious relations in a plural society.

The Sin Chew interview has exposed Annuar’s true colours.

The challenges faced by UMNO are formidable – will it be able to dissociate from a kleptocracy culture and return to its founding decades when UMNO Presidents were known for unquestioned integrity and honesty?

Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman had to sell his house in Penang to fund the running of UMNO, while the former CIMB Bank Chairman, Datuk Seri Nazir Razak had recalled how their father, the second Prime Minister, Tun Razak, had given his sons a stern lecture on integrity and honesty when they had asked that a swimming pool be built at Seri Taman, the Prime Minister’s residence where they lived.

As for the third Prime Minister, Tun Hussein Onn, his integrity and honesty were legendary.

UMNO lost power in the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 because it had betrayed the principles of integrity and honesty – from the days when the UMNO leader had to sell his house to fund UMNO’s activities to the era when UMNO leaders built palatial homes on ill-gotten gains from their public positions of trust and responsibility, turning Malaysia into a global kleptocracy.

The 1MDB scandal would never have happened under the watch of Tunku, Tun Razak or Tun Hussein Onn.

And yet today, there are those in UMNO who want Malaysians to believe that the Golden Age of the country was when Malaysia became a global kleptocracy!

Quo Vadis UMNO?

Lim Kit Siang MP for Iskandar Puteri