KUALA LUMPUR – Bersatu said that it expects Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) to resort to the character assassination of prominent leaders from Perikatan Nasional (PN) in preparations for elections in six states.
Separately, it predicted ploys to cleanse the images of those among the “court cluster” in the government, chiefly Umno president and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Bersatu information chief Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan claimed these two strategies will be executed in parallel in the near future.
Elaborating, Wan Saiful said that PH and BN see the need to assassinate the characters of PN personalities, as the opposition coalition poses the biggest challenge to them ahead of the state elections due by the middle of this year.
“BN suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of PN, while PH now needs BN to secure Malay votes. As such, PH-BN will cooperate to incite and create the perception among the rakyat that PN is corrupt,” he said in a statement today.
Wan Saiful said PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and several other senior leaders will be in the firing line due to their popularity.
“The rakyat knows that if we compare Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Zahid, and their people with Muhyiddin and the leaders around him, the difference is like heaven and earth.
“PH-BN will do whatever it takes to damage the credibility of Muhyiddin and the other PN leaders,” he said.
On the “sanctification” of the court cluster, Wan Saiful said this will soon be especially seen as interested parties aim to alter public perception of affected leaders.
“Their objective is none other than to cleanse, one by one, individuals in the court cluster, particularly Zahid, and clear their image.”
He said this is particularly concerning having read comments made by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat that revealed attempts to intimidate the judiciary last year.
“I support the view of the chief justice that the attempts last year are an insult to the rule of law and judiciary independence.
“We must defend the integrity of the legal institution from similar misconduct. We all know who led the government last year,” he said, ostensibly referring to Umno.
On Monday, Tengku Maimun had slammed certain parties for trying to tarnish the image of the judiciary simply because certain decisions did not favour them, and called out these critics for questioning the judgments.
The top judge said she even received death threats when chairing the panel of Federal Court judges in the hearing of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s appeal on his SRC International Bhd case.
The apex court had then upheld the lower court’s guilty verdict and sentenced the former prime minister to 12 years’ jail on August 23, 2022. – The Vibes, January 15, 2023
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