I want to give the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his propagandists a piece of free advice, that they should be consistent and credible or their propaganda campaign of lies, fake news and false information will come to nought like MCA complaining about losing the support of 85 per cent of Chinese voters in the 13th General Election.

The highly-oiled-and-financed UMNO/BN propaganda machinery suffered a paroxysm of doubt, uncertainty, contradiction and loss of direction when the Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council on 14th July announced the new Pakatan Harapan structure, logo and leadership line-up, achieving what Najib’s kitchen Cabinet had thought impossible – the Mahathir-Anwar reconciliation after almost two decades of bitter political enmity.

The path-breaking Pakatan Harapan announcement, which reignited hopes among Malaysians that it is possible to dream and slog for political change in Putrajaya in the forthcoming 14th General Election, was a major blow to the UMNO/BN propaganda offensive of lies, fake news and false information built around the fairy tale DAP leaders and I myself in particular are the puppet-masters in Pakatan Harapan, and somehow, strong characters and personalities like Mohamad Sabu, Rafizi Ramli, Azmin Ali, Nurul Izzah, Wan Azizah, Anwar Ibrahim, Muhyiddin Yassin and Mahathir Mohamad have suddenly all become my stooges and puppets, at my beck and call!

This was why the Communications and Multimedia Minister, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak thought he had found a chink in the Pakatan Harapan armour and was the first to jump out to champion the DAP, demanding to know the reason for the absence of the DAP leaders among the top three Pakatan Harapan leaders, whether the DAP had been sidelined and marginalized.

Various variations of this theme for a propaganda counter-attack by the UMNO/BN leaders and propagandists were tried out in the ensuing days, but they were trapped by the contradiction between claiming DAP leaders were the puppet-masters in Pakatan Harapan and alleging that DAP leaders had been sidelined and marginalized in Pakatan Harapan.

After a week of propaganda contortions and gymnastics, UMNO leaders and propagandists decided that it was more prudent and safer to return to the original propaganda theme that the DAP leaders had always been the dominant leaders in Pakatan Harapan.

This was why the Wanita UMNO Chief, Tan Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil came to Gelang Patah with the pronouncement that Tun Dr. Mahathir’s appointment as chairman of Pakatan Harapan was a mere “drama” staged by DAP “to obscure the Malay voters’ eyes from seeing truth”.

Shahrizat said: “If we look at it carefully, the real de facto leader for Pakatan Harapan is Lim Kit Siang (DAP).

“He is there, hiding at the back, because he knew they are desperate for Malay votes, so he selected the ‘puppets’ to give them the impression that there are Malay leaders in the Opposition pact.

“The truth is DAP will be the one who is calling the shots, so Malaysians must be cautious. If they choose the opposition, it means that they choose DAP to lead the country.”

I am not surprised that Shahrizat has uttered such rubbish, but I forgive her as she has to earn her keeps as she is being paid ministerial remuneration allegedly as special adviser to the Prime Minister on women affairs. But what a waste of public funds!

I want to give Najib and his propagandists a piece of free advice, that they should be consistent and credible or their propaganda campaign of lies, fake news and false information will come to nought like MCA complaining about losing 85 per cent of Chinese voters in the 13th General Election.

In the run-up to the 13th General Election, MCA propaganda invested heavily on demonizing the DAP with lies, fake news and false information that DAP leaders have sold out the interests and rights of the Chinese to PAS extremists who want an Islamic State and hudud laws on public caning and amputation of limbs.

The MCA paid a heavy price in the 13th General Election because the MCA propaganda attack of lies, fake news and false information against DAP leaders lack credibility and consistency – when compared to the record of DAP leaders down the decades in standing up for the rights and interests of all Malaysians, whether it be my political incarceration or Guan Eng’s imprisonment, disqualification as Member of Parliament and civil disenfranchisement for five years, including standing for elective office, because of defending the honour of an underaged Malay girl.

As a result, MCA has been reduced to a 7/11 political party (winning only seven parliamentary and eleven state assembly seats).

If MCA leaders and propagandists continue with their baseless demonization of DAP, based on lies, fake news and false information, instead of getting back the support of some 35% of Chinese voters in the 14th General Election as MCA leaders now claim, MCA may end up as a ¾ (tiga suku) political party, with three parliamentary and four state assembly seats in the 14th General Election.

If Najib and UMNO are to follow in the footsteps of their MCA counterparts, demonization Mahathir with lies, fake news and false information, UMNO may end up like MCA in the 13th General Election and complain that Mahathir has secured the electoral support of 85 per cent of the Malay voters as the UMNO propaganda attacks lack credibility and consistency.

As the result of the ridiculous propaganda campaign against the leaders of the four Pakatan Harapan parties of DAP, PKR, Amanah and Pribumi Bersatu, Najib has now to face his own demons, admit that neither he nor the UMNO/BN coalition are invincible in the next general election because of three formidable challenges:

• Loss of support of the majority of Malays in the country.

• Loss of support of the majority of the 1.6 million civil servants in the country.

• Loss of the support of the highest percentage of UMNO members (at present, 3.5 million UMNO members) by any UMNO President in UMNO history.

Can Najib overcome these three problems that no UMNO President had to face and overcome in the past?