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KUALA LUMPUR: Veteran politician Lim Kit Siang may have thought that he had seen it all in his 51 years in politics, but even he did not expect to be named the next prime minister of the nation.
A “new Malaysian Cabinet 2017” list, in circulation on social media, names him as prime minister with former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as his deputy.
While having a good laugh, and flattered, Lim is also concerned about this fake list of 22 Cabinet members – mostly made up of Chinese – and the harm it can do to the nation.
It is clear that the fake Cabinet list is aimed at creating fear among the Malays that the Chinese will take over the country if the opposition wins the next general election.
“I was quite flattered because this is the first time I have seen myself slated for the PM’s post, although in my 51 years of politics, the thought of being prime minister of Malaysia had never entered my mind,” Lim said in a press statement today.
The list is titled: “Barisan Kerajaan Baru 2017 – Pakatan Harapan DAP/PKR/PAN/PPBM” (2017 new Cabinet lineup – Pakatan Harapan DAP/PKR/PAN/PPBM)
According to the fake list, PPBM president Muhyiddin Yassin gets the post of “Integrasi Nasional & Pengurusan Prestasi” (National Integration and Performance Management), a post considered less important.
Kit Siang’s son. Lim Guan Eng, will be in charge of the Economic Planning Unit, Azmin Ali of PKR will be education minister and Nurul Izzah Anwar the foreign minister. Parti Amanah Nasional’s (PAN) Khalid Samad is the only one from that party to get a post in this imaginary lineup – as arts, culture and history minister.
Whoever made up the list included one PAS leader in the mix – Mahfuz Omar. He will be the new defence minister. Mahfuz is one of the few PAS leaders who is openly friendly with Amanah, so this is evidently aimed at making the PAS leadership more suspicious of Mahfuz.
Others in the list are: PM’s department, no portfolio – Sivarasah a/l Rasiah (PKR), higher education – Nga Kor Ming (DAP), youth and sports – Elizabeth Wong (PKR), domestic trade – Tony Pua (DAP but wrongly listed as PKR in the fake lineup), communications and Indian affairs – Gobind Singh Deo (DAP), women and family development – Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR), tourism and international publicity – Rafizi Ramli (PKR), science, technology and nuclear industry – Fuziah Saleh (PKR), works ministry – Zuraida Kamaruddin (PKR), communications and Chinese affairs – Tian Chua (PKR), housing and local government – Anthony Loke (DAP), international trade and industry – Teresa Kok (DAP), and human resources – S Manickavasagam (PKR).
Lim noted that at the recent Umno general assembly, Najib Razak, the Umno president and prime minister, slammed the DAP, describing the party as the number one enemy of Umno. Malays were told to decide whether they wanted a government led by Umno or the DAP in the next general election.
“This is of course a political fallacy. Whether Najib is toppled as prime minister or Umno loses the federal government, the Malays in Malaysia will continue to exercise political power in the country as there is no way they will lose their political power, “Lim said.
Giving a breakdown of seats where the different races are in the majority, he asked: “Is any Umno leader suggesting that if Umno loses in GE14, it would be possible for the new Malaysian government in Putrajaya to ensure the Chinese capture political power by increasing the present 22 Chinese-majority seats to over 83 seats so as to constitute a majority of the total of 165 seats in Peninsular Malaysia?
“No magician can perform this impossible feat. In fact, the trend is the opposite, with fewer than 22 Chinese-majority seats in the coming years because of the demographic realities and declining Chinese population in the country.”
He went on to quote several Malays, including National Laureate Samad Said, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah of Umno and activist Zainah Anwar who had given reasons why the Malays would never lose power.
Lim quoted population figures and other statistics to show that under no circumstances would the Malays lose power in the country.
“That the Malays will lose political power to the Chinese if Umno is defeated in the 14GE is of course the “Big Lie” Nazi-style propaganda offensive which the Umno leaders and strategists have launched in the run-up to the next general election to create fear, scare and hatred among the Malay electorate,” he said.
He added: “The fictitious Pakatan Harapan Cabinet was designed to reinforce the Umno “Big Lie” scare-fear-hatred propaganda offensive against the DAP, which is why Mahathir is positioned as deputy prime minister, Muhyiddin in the relatively inconsequential portfolio in the prime minister’s department, the DAP is assigned seven Cabinet posts (although Tony Pua was erroneously named as a PKR MP), the relatively junior Cabinet positions for PKR (although given 10 positions in the 22-Minister Cabinet) and Parti Amanah Rakyat.”
Saying worse things could be expected as GE14 neared, Lim urged the public not to lose sight of the things that mattered, such as preventing the nation from becoming a failed state, fighting corruption, and ensuring good governance.
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