I am astonished by the allegation by the PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang that DAP is guilty of “sikap diskriminasi…yang tidak menyokong hasrat kerajaan untuk membawa pembagunan saksama kepada lima negeriu termasuk Terengganu dan Kelantan”.
In a Berita Harian online report which appeared at 4.07 pm yesterday, under the heading “PAS dakwa DAP diskriminasi pembangunan Pantai Timur”, Hadi was quoted as saying that “diskriminasi DAP terhadap hasrat Kerajaan Persekutuan untuk memajukan negeri Pantai Timur begitu ketara”.
The Berita Harian report said:
“Beliau berkata, DAP yang mendominasi kerusi di Pantai Barat dilihat sebagai punca yang boleh menggagalkan usaha Kerajaan Persekutuan untuk berlaku adil dan saksama dalam membawa pembangunan kepada negeri.
“’DAP bersikap tidak jujur terhadap keadilan apabila kepemimpinan parti itu masih berdegil kerana enggan mempedulikan pembangunan di negeri Pantai Timur dan Utara, termasuk Perlis serta Sabah dan Sarawak.
“’PAS menyokong penuh hasrat Perdana Menteri, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad untuk melaksanakan pembangunan di Pantai Timur dan Utara supaya pembangunan lebih setara dapat dilakukan.
“’PAS juga meminta semua parti komponen Barisan Nasional (BN) yang bersama-sama sebagai pembangkang supaya menyokong hasrat Perdana Menteri untuk melakukan reformasi kerajaan.
“’Namun malang apabila ada parti komponen dalam PH sendiri tidak menyokong dan saya berterus terang parti itu adalah DAP,’ katanya ketika ditemui di kediamannya di Rusila, di sini, hari ini.
“Beliau mengulas reformasi kerajaan yang digariskan dalam Kajian Separuh Penggal Rancangan Malaysia Ke-11 (RMK-11) dibentangkan Dr Mahathir di Parlimen, semalam.
“Abdul Hadi yang juga Ahli Parlimen Marang berkata, contoh paling ketara ialah sikap tidak jujur kepemimpinan DAP apabila tidak bersetuju dengan cadangan Kerajaan Persekutuan untuk mengembalikan royalti minyak sebanyak 20 peratus kepada negeri pengeluar, termasuk Terengganu dan Kelantan.
“Katanya, DAP sebenarnya mewarisi sikap penjajah apabila meninggalkan negeri yang majoriti penduduknya Bumiputera.”
Hadi will be a disgrace to political Islam if he cannot substantiate his allegation that DAP discriminates against the East Coast by opposing equal development for Terengganu and Kelantan.
Lies and falsehoods are as sinful in Islam as in other great religions in the world, and no honourable religious teacher will resort to lies and falsehoods to advance his personal agenda.
I am giving Hadi two days to substantiate his allegation or he will stand convicted in the court of public opinion in Malaysia and the world of resorting to lies and falsehoods to pursue to his political ends.
I do not know whether Hadi’s latest resort to lies and falsehoods is part of the PAS’ latest effort to save some of the “shipwrecked” passengers in Barisan Nasional.
A Malaysiakini report yesterday quoted the PAS Mentri Bensar of Kelantan and PAS Deputy spiritual adviser, Ahmad Yakob, as saying that based on developments before the May 9 general election, PAS foresaw that the “BN ship” would be damaged, and that although PAS does not want to build a new ship to save BN, PAS must save some of the passengers who “were experts in certain fields who could help further the Islamic struggle”.
He said PAS could save and “use the passengers from that ship for the benefit of our struggle”.
I am intrigued by this new political theory of PAS Islamic struggle, and wonder whether they are thinking of the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the UMNO President, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi, the UMNO Deputy President, Mohamad Hassan Vice Presidents Ismail Sabry Yaacob, Mahdzir Khalid, Khaled Nordin, UMNO Secretary-General Tan Sri Annuar Musa, and wider in the Barisan Nasional context, Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong and why PAS is so ambivalent and ambiguous about its stand on the 1MDB scandal and the infamy of Malaysia as a global kleptocracy all these years.
Is Wee one of the “shipwrecked” BN leaders to be saved by Hadi and PAS?
This is why I had pointedly asked whether Wee is prepared to redeem MCA’s honour, dignity and self-respect by taking a firm stand in Parliament and outside to denounce Najib and the international 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal and pledge full support to Pakatan Harapan government to transform Malaysia from a global kleptocracy to a model democracy.
Or is Wee going the follow the ambivalent and ambiguous stand of Hadi’s PAS?
The most outstanding aspect of the last five months of post-14th General Election, whether in Parliament or outside, is the conspiracy of silence involving all UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders (including PAS), especially those who had been Ministers in Najib’s Cabinet like Wee Ka Siong, on the greatest and worst corruption scandal in the country’s history – the monstrous international 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal which had given Malaysia the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of a global kleptocracy.
In the past five months, Wee Ka Siong had never spoken about the 1MDB issue, nor had any other UMNO/BN/PAS leaders, whether in Parliament or outside, although it is the single biggest global issue confronting Malaysia.
Can Wee explain how many statements he had issued since he had lost his Cabinet position because of the toppling of the Barisan Nasional government in the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018, and whether there was a single statement on the greatest national shame in history – the international 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal?
Is Wee prepared to make a clean breast and tell Malaysians the whole story of MCA’s involvement in the 1MDB scandal as MCA is not an innocent party in the 1MDB scandal.
Former MCA President Datuk Dr. Chua Soi Lek had in November 2015 made a startling revelation about Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal in his personal banking accounts before the 13th General Election, when he recollected how Najib had in a BN Supreme Council meeting before the 13th general election made an “unprecedented pledge to fund BN component parties”.
Chua had said:
“I remember clearly. I was the first to thank him.
“I said I have joined politics for more than 20 years and have gone through five general elections. (We) have never received a single sen from BN before.
“So everyone agreed and many thanked him. When the election came, he delivered – he was able to disburse some funds (to the component parties).”
Is the present MCA leadership under Wee as the MCA Deputy President prepared to come clean about the whole sordid tale of involvement of MCA in the 1MDB scandal.
This has become all the more pertinent, relevant and pressing in view of the grouses publicly expressed by UMNO leaders over the 45 charges of corruption, criminal breach of trust and money-laundering which had been levelled against the UMNO President and former Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today.
For instance, the UMNO Batu Pahat chief and former Deputy Minister, Mohd Puad Zakarshi, in alleging that the prosecution of Zahid is an attempt by the Pakatan Harapan government to “kill” UMNO, had asked why the no action had been taken against leaders of other Barisan Nasuional or former component parties?
He asked: “There are no MCA, MIC or Gerakan leaders being hauled up and charged. Why? The answer is simple – Mahathir is not interested. To him, all these parties are dead and do not need to be ‘killed’ further. But Umno seems to die hard.”
Will Wee answer Puad.
Or will the answer come from former MCA President, Dr. Chua Soi Lek at the launching of his autobiography, Like Me or Hate Me: Rising from the Political Ashes, in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow?
(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah Lim Kit Siang in Saturday, 20th October 2018)