Time to debunk the sea of lies, fake news and false information which had been polluting the political arena in the last few years

The time has come to debunk the sea of lies, fake news and false allegations which had been polluting the political arena in the last few years.

The Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri tried to justify the Sheraton Move conspiracy at the Selangor Barisan Nasional convention on Sunday when he justified the Sheraton Move which unconstitutionally and undemocratically toppled the elected Pakatan Harapan government after 22 months on the grounds of DAP dominance in the Pakatan Harapan government.

Can Ismail Sabri explain how six DAP Ministers could dominate and overwhelm the 28-member Pakatan Harapan Cabinet under the Prime Minister of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad?

There were eight Ministers who were implicated in the infamous Sheraton Move conspiracy – who were at the time Home Minister Muhyiddin Yasssin, Minister for Economic Affairs Azmin Ali, Minister for Housing and Local Government Zuraida Kamaruddin, Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, Minister for Entrepreneurship Development and Co-operatives, Redzuan Md Yusuf, Works Minister Baru Bian, Minister for Rural Development Rina Harun and the Minister for Land Resources and Water, Xavier Jayakumar

Was Ismail Sabri sincerely and actually suggesting that the nine Bersatu and PKR Ministers, which included Muhyiddin, Azmin Ali, Zuraida, Rina Harun, Saifuddin Abdullah and Mohd Redzuan, were so low-quality and incompetent that they were unable to stand up to the “dominance” of six DAP Ministers?

And how was this DAP “dominance” in the Pakatan Harapan Government shown? Detention of the DAP State Executive Councillor in Malacca and State Assemnblyman in Negri Sembilan on baseless Tamil Tiger links?

The Prime Minister Ismail Sabri should stop running down the calibre and competence of Muhyddin, Azmin Ali, Zuraida and the other Bersatu and PKR Ministers.

In fact, he should set the example and stop purveying fake news, false allegations and lies in the political arena!

He must ensure that his “Keluarga Malaysia” campaign is not built on lies, fake news and false allegations.

But the false allegation of DAP “dominance” in the Pakatan Harapan government were less serious than the other allegations that are being spread about the DAP in Pakatan Harapan Government – that the DAP was anti-Malay and anti-Islam.

I deny the charges that the DAP is anti-Malay and anti-Islam because this goes against the DAP’s core beliefs that Malaysia is a plural society of a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural entity and that we should leverage on the four great human civilisations that meet in confluence in Malaysia to build a great Malaysian civilisation.

I dare to challenge anyone to cite one instance when the DAP was part of the Pakatan Harapan Government that could show that the DAP was anti-Malay or anti-Islam because we are not anti any race or anti any religion, but pro all races and all religions to create the basis for unity, justice and harmony in Malaysia in pursuit of the Malaysian Dream.

One of the most controversial issues in the Pakatan Harapan government was the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) fiasco in the early months of the Pakatan Harapan government at the end of 2018.

I am on public record of challenging the Foreign Minister at the time and one of the Sheraton Move Ministers, Saifuddin Abdullah, to “come clean” on the ICERD fiasco and admit that the it was solely his own making and that DAP Ministers knew nothing about the proposed ICERD ratification although DAP was the target of demonization for being anti-Malay, anti-Islam and even anti-Royalty?

Yesterday, the DAP Secretary-General and former Transport Minister, Anthony Loke told Parliament that it was a DAP leader who saved the armed forces pension fund from suffering a loss of RM555 million in government bailout.

Loke said it was he, as transport minister then, who had suggested that the armed forces fund (LTAT) be reimbursed the RM555 million it spent to take over the concessions for the Automated Enforcement System (AES) for driving offences.

His Cabinet colleague at the time, Mohamad Sabu (PH-Kota Raja), who was the defence minister, agreed to the suggestion.

Loke said it was Najib Razak, when he was the sixth Prime Minister, who proposed that LTAT take over the AES concession from concessionaires Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd and ATES Sdn Bhd for RM555 million.

Loke told Parliament yesterday: “It was a transport minister from DAP, often maligned by the other side as anti-Malay and anti-Bumiputera, who suggested that RM555 million be returned to LTAT.

“If the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government then had not made such a decision, LTAT’s money would have been ‘burnt’ and the veterans would face problems.”

Professor Ahmad Murad Merican of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation, International Islamic University Malaysia told the roundtable conference on “Rebranding of Malay Politics” held over the weekend that “to be a Malay is to be negative, lazy, corrupt, hypocritical, racist” and called for change.

He said: “The Malay image must change along with Malay culture and political behaviour, re-branding is also necessary at the international level.”

Whose fault is this: DAP whose Minister saved RM550 million for the army veterans or Najib who is responsible for the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal and UMNO whose leaders had never uttered a word to condemn “kleptocracy at its worst” in the past decade?

Will anybody from UMNO dare to respond?

Lim Kit Siang MP for Iskandar Puteri