Pakatan Harapan would have lost the Tanjong Piai parliamentary by-election if polling had been held last week.

In the Malay areas, Malays were told that the Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad was my puppet, that the Malays and Muslims have lost their rights and position in Malaysia. But in Chinese areas, the Chinese were told that I was nothing but Mahathir’s stooge and that the Chinese had lost their rights and position in Malaysia.

In this era of social media, when lies, fake news and hate speech can be spread in a matter of seconds, both the Malay and Chinese voters would be right to be very upset if they believed these lies and there is no time or opportunity to verify the truth or otherwise of these allegations.

This is in fact the most despicable and unprincipled by-election campaign waged by the Muafakat Nasional, comprising PAS and Barisan Nasional, with the MCA included in the latter.

It is clear that Muafakat Nasional, comprising PAS and Barisan Nasional, is not competing with Pakatan Harapan as to which coalition have the best policies to make Malaysia a successful top world-class nation of unity, justice, freedom, excellence and integrity, as all that PAS, UMNO and MCA want is to wreck and destroy the Pakatran Harapan Government, although they have nothing constructive to propose, in particular about the future of Malaysia.

In the past week, we have started to refute the lies, fake news and hate speech and to tell the people the truth – that there is no basis for these lies, fake news and hate speech spread by the Opposition.

In the second week of the Tanjong Piai parliamentary by-election, Pakatran Harapan election workers and supporters must claw back every possible vote to clinch a victory on Nov. 16 to support the Pakatan Harapan agenda for a New Malaysia to transform the country into a top world-class nation of unity, justice, freedom, excellence and integrity.

The Pakatan Harapan Government in Putrajaya must remain committed to the Pakatan Harapan Manifesto for a New Malaysia, although it is not possible to undo the corruption, abuse of power, injustices and wrongs of a few decades in a year or two – especially, as Pakatan Harapan leaders were not aware of the enormity of the monstrous crimes of corruption and abuse of power until they entered Putrajaya after the historic and miraculous “509” decision of the 14th General Election.

Just an example, it was revealed in Najib’s 1MDB corruption trial last week that RM5.5 billion of funds were transferred from 1MDB between September 2008 and October 2011 to companies later revealed by investigators to be sham companies controlled by one of the masterminds of 1MDB, Jho Low, or his associates.

Malaysians were not aware of these crimes of a decade ago but the political leaders in Barisan Nasional and PAS today still maintain that the 1MDB scandal is not proven and a mere fictitious tale invented by Pakatan Harapan.

The MCA candidate for Tanjong Piai, Wong Jeck Seng, had been a Member of Parliament for Tanjong Piai for two terms of 10 years from 2008 to 2018, and he had not dared to raise even once in Parliament any question about the 1MDB scandal.

Would he dare to raise the 1MDB scandal in Parliament if he is elected as MP for Tanjong Piai in the by-election on Nov. 16?

Of course not, or he would not have welcomed Najib Razak as his “boss” during the latter’s visit to Tanjong Piai yesterday!

On behalf of all Malaysians, the voters of Tanjong Piai regardless of race or religion must send out a clear message that Malaysians support the Pakatan Harapan Government’s campaign to root out the corruption in the 1MDB scandal and a host of other institutions, whether Felda, Felcra, Tabung Haji or MARA and those who had cheated Malaysians of millions and billions of ringgit from the public purse must be made to pay for their crimes.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at a Pakatan Harapan kopitiam ceramah in Pekan Nenas on Sunday, November 10, 2019 at 1 pm)