The 14th General elections is going to be dirtiest in the nation’s history when UMNO/BN owned or controlled mainstream media have unabashedly transformed themselves from newspapers into “lies-papers”.

In the past four months, UMNO/BN mainstream media like Utusan Malaysia, New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Star have become “lies-papers” as part of the UMNO/BN campaign to demonise Pakatan Harapan leaders and myself, where I am described as a devil, puaka, even jembalang; that I am anti-Malay, anti-Islam; cause of May 13, 1969 riots; a communist; a stooge of foreign powers; that I dominate Pakatan Harapan and made other leaders like Tun Mahathir, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Datuk Seri Wan Azizah, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and Mohamad Sabu as my stooges and puppets – all sorts of evil under the Malaysian sun!

This is not because I have suddenly become No. 1 national security risk, or the greatest threat to UMNO/BN government, but simply because UMNO leaders and propagandists are in a panic mood as they have realised that there is a possibility that they have lost the support of the majority of Malay voters in the country.

UMNO/BN leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers have therefore resorted to the primordial politics of lies, hate and fear to make me into a monster or ogre by creating hatred and fear among the Malay voters with the “scare story” that if UMNO is defeated in the next general election, the Malays will lose their political power and their rights to the Chinese and the DAP, hoping that the Malay electorate will not see through the UMNO bluff and political chicanery because of the following fallacies and falsehoods:

• DAP is not the “Big Bad Wolf” which will deprive the Malays of political power and their rights if UMNO is defeated in the 14th General Election, as Malay political power will not be in jeopardy because of the reality of demography in Malaysia, and the new Harapan Pakatan Prime Minister will be a Malay and not a non-Malay.

• Furthermore, far from undermining or depriving Malays of their rights in the country, a Pakatan Harapan coalition comprising DAP, PKR, AMANAH and Pribumi Bersatu, will demonstrate that it can deliver results to do better than the UMNO/BN government to protect and promote the rights and interests of Malays and of all communities in the country as Pakatan Harapan want to win, not just the 14th GE, but the 15th, 16th and future GEs as well.

• But the greatest lie and most irresponsible politics of fear and hate is to spread the falsehood that the DAP is a Chinese party which is anti-Malay and anti-Islam, when DAP had been a Malaysian party right from the beginning of our formation 51 years ago, comprising Malaysians regardless of race or religion, and fighting for the rights and interests of all Malaysians, again regardless of race or religion. This was why in 1998, a DAP leader, Lim Guan Eng, had gone to jail and deprived of his position as Member of Parliament when he defended the honour and dignity of an under-aged Malay girl.

For 51 years, DAP and I had been an open book, which is why UMNO leaders and propagandists could not find a single evidence that DAP and I had been anti-Malay and anti-Islam – the reason for the ludicrous RM10,000 (upped to RM50,000 within 24 hours) proposal for the best essay or social media posting that I am anti-Malay and anti-Islam!

Recently, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has been deploring the politics of lies, fake news and false information.

For a start, to ensure clean and honest politicking in Malaysia, is Najib prepared to direct UMNO/BN owned or controlled mainstream media to return to their role as newspapers and stop being “lies-papers”?”

(Speech at the Johor DAP State Leaders Retreat at Kukup, Johor on Saturday, 15th April 2017 at 2 pm)