The Kemaman by-election on Dec. 2, 2023 is more for PAS to lose than for UMNO to win.

But if UMNO wins Kemaman, PAS is in big trouble and this is why the nomination of the Terengganu Menteri Besar is a desperate move.

PAS may even win the Kemaman by-election and yet lose the larger battle as its election director is talking about winning the by-election with a 30,000-vote majority.

Until the six state general elections on August 12, PAS leaders and propaganda were forecasting a change of Federal government and the Prime Minister if the Perikatan Nasional (PN) captured the two state governments of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan.

But PN and PAS failed.

Now with Bersatu in tatters, and PAS exposed as a political party which had relied of lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech to create fear and a political wave in the country, there is a new political scenario in the country

Lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech could last only for a short-term and not for a long term as previous regimes which had relied on lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech like Nazi Germany had shown.

But Malaysians are waking up to the lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech which had threatened Malaysia’s political stability, national unity, diversity, and prosperity in a comparatively shorter time.

This is thanks to the PAS President, Hadi Awang, who made wild, and preposterous allegations that DAP and I were anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty, communist, and spreading Islamophobia for the last five decades but for a year he was unable to substantiate them with an iota of evidence, and with his best disciple, the PAS Member of Parliament, Siti Mastura Muhammad uttering unfathomable lies that I am related to Chin Peng, “Lim” Kuan Yew, Teresa Kok, Nga Kor Ming, and Ngeh Koo Ham.

The question is whether the Kemaman by-election will show that PAS is a factor to be reckoned in the future politics of the country or the political wave created by the lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech spread by PAS leaders have reached their zenith and only direction for PAS is its descent.

But one thing is sure: Malaysia cannot rise up again to become a great world-class nation and reverse the national decline in the last few decades based on the politics and leadership of lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech as our future will then be that of a divided, failed, and kleptocratic state.

(Media Statement by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang in Penang on Friday, 17th November 2023)