Earlier today, I sent three tweets to the Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakub, as follows:
1. @IsmailSabri60 You can run, you cannot hide. Where are your examples to substantiate your allegation that I had been anti-Malay anti-Islam? 2. Most shocking in this holy month of Ramadam @IsmailSabri60 can still tell such nefarious lies. Am prepared to forgive you if you apologise. 3. If @IsmailSabri60 does not apologise, I will pursue the issue whether in Parliament or the courts. Ball in your court. Over to you.
There has been thunderous silence from Ismail who had pretensions that he is one of the most Internet-savvy Cabinet Ministers in the country.
Ismail had said that he can compile a whole book to prove that I am anti-Malay and anti-Islam and I had told him that the book can wait, but to cite an instance a day up to the by-election polling day on Saturday 18th June 2016 that I had been anti-Malay and anti-Islam in my 50 years in politics.
Three days have passed and Ismail already owed me three examples. Will he come up with one example a day today and tomorrow, to produce a total of five examples in time for the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections – which should be “chicken-feed” since he claimed that he could compile a book, which should have at least 100 examples.
I had hoped to make some money from Ismail but he seemed to have realised that he is on a slippery slope which would be very costly for him. If Ismail has now realised that he had wrongly defamed me, he should have the honesty and decency to publicly apologise for telling baseless lies and falsehoods about me – especially in this holy month of Ramadan.
Let me tell Ismail that silence is no option for him. Either he cite examples to substantiate his allegation that I had been anti-Malay and anti-Islam in my 50 years in politics, or he should without any delay publicly apologise for making baseless allegations against me in this holy month of Ramadan.
Unlike Ismail, I can cite a list of the racist speeches by Ismail and other UMNO leaders, including Ismail’s infamous call to Malays last year to boycott Chinese businesses.
I do not think there is another political leader who had suffered more sustained and greater demonisation in the past 50 years than myself, as I had been accused of all sorts of dastardly and evil deeds especially through the Barisan Nasional-owned and controlled mainstream media.
I have been accused of being anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Malay Rulers, anti-Chinese-educated Chinese, anti-English-educated Chinese, anti-Indian, an agent of Russian KGB, agent of American CIA, agent of British M16, agent of Australian Intelligence Services, and a host of unimaginable allegations.
I had been accused of causing the May 13, 1969 riots in Kuala Lumpur, of having led illegal processions through the streets of Kuala Lumpur hurling anti-Malay slogans and provocations and even urinating in the house of the then Selangor Mentri Besar, Datuk Harun Idris, in Kampong Baru in Kuala Lumpur, as was portrayed in the film “Tanda Putera”!
But I was never in Kuala Lumpur during the May 13, 1969 days as I was in Kota Kinabalu for a public rally to campaign for independent candidates in Sabah and Sarawak for the staggered and belated election dates in 1969.
The police had a full record of my whereabouts during those tragic days of May 13, 1969, but the authorities’ knowledge did not prevent those-in-power from spreading the lies and falsehoods that I was in Kuala Lumpur at the time and responsible for the May 13, 1969 riots.
The latest lies are the allegations that AMANAH leaders have become my stooges and puppets, and even the longest-serving Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir has become my latest puppet and stooge.
Many Malaysians have forgotten that at one time, DAP leaders were accused of being puppets and stooges of PAS, and this was why Karpal Singh and I lost in the parliamentary contests in the 1999 general election, when MCA and Gerakan propagandists cranked up such lies and falsehoods in the short campaign period in the 1999 general elections, alleging that a vote for DAP was a vote for PAS and a vote for Islamic State, and that there would be no Chinese schools to study, no pork to eat, and no temples for the Buddhists to pray.
May be it was the shocking defeat of Karpal and myself for the parliamentary elections in 1999 which killed once and for all the MCA and Gerakan lies and falsehoods that Karpal and I could be puppets and stooges of PAS. Although the same MCA/Gerakan lies and falsehoods were spread in the 14 years from 1999 to 2013 general elections, such lies and falsehoods that DAP leaders could be puppets and stooges of PAS lost all credibility whatsoever with the Chinese and non-Malay communities.
However, the lies and falsehoods in the Malay areas that PAS leaders like Hadi and others were DAP stooges and puppets had a longer life-span, lasting up to the 2013 general elections, to the extent that after causing the disintegration of Pakatan Rakyat, PAS leaders copied the UMNO ploy to accuse AMANAH leaders of being stooges and puppets of DAP.
Has PAS President Datuk Seri Hadi Awang admitted to be a puppet and stooge of DAP during the seven years of PAS in Pakatan Rakyat, and if not, why is PAS copying the unethical and dishonest UMNO tactics to falsely accuse AMANAH leaders of being DAP stooges and puppets, and now accuse Mahathir as DAP’s puppet and stooge?
The time has come to put an end such despicable politics of lies and falsehood.
DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, has also been accused of being anti-Malay and anti-Islam, when the Penang State Government in the eight years under Guan Eng had done more to promote Islam than the Barisan Nasional and Alliance governments had done in 51 years in Penang from 1957 to 2008!
In 1998, Guan Eng lost his MP-ship, parliamentary pensions and went to jail for 18 months, not because he had committed any crime of theft, robbery, murder or corruption, but because he had defended the dignity and honour of an underaged Malay girl!
Is there another case in the nearly 60 years of Malaysian politics of an UMNO/Barisan Nasional leader who was prepared to sacrifice his parliamentary position, pensions and gone to jail for standing up for the human rights of a Malaysian of another race and religion?
In fact, is there a single UMNO/Barisan Nasional leader who had been prepared to sacrifice his political future and gone to jail for defending the basic rights of a Malaysian of his own race and religion – never mind about a Malaysian of different race and religion?
Guan Eng and I do not ask for recognition, honour or gratitude for what we have done in our political struggle, because what we have done is expected of all patriotic Malaysians – but it clearly crosses the line of decency and morality to continue to indulge in lies and falsehoods to demonise Guan Eng and I as anti-Malay and anti-Islam, when there is no basis whatsoever.
Will Ismail start the process to end the politics of lies and falsehoods by apologising for his baseless and nefarious lies and falsehood that I had been anti-Malay and anti-Islam in my 50 years in politics?