KUALA LUMPUR – With the pandemic still raging, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang slammed Umno for its decision to hold an election in Johor, calling it the “height of irresponsibility”.
Putting the blame on the state’s ruling party, the Iskandar Puteri MP noted that within the last two weeks, the state has recorded the highest number of Covid-19 cases and related deaths among others in Malaysia.
“Umno intends to use the state election as a platform to rehearse for the upcoming GE15, where the party hopes to restore its political hegemony by reinstating kleptocrats into power,” he said in a statement today.
Lim added that the situation also implies the party’s readiness to put forward a convict of corruption for the position of prime minister.
It is believed that Lim was referring to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who was described as a “national embarrassment” by Court of Appeal judge Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil.
Besides that, Lim opined that a good test of whether the state election was triggered by those in the party with ongoing court cases will be to monitor Umno’s willingness to elevate issues pertaining to corruption.
He further drew attention to a revelation made by former prime minister and Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who had claimed that top leaders in Umno wanted him to intervene in their court cases.
“This is shocking, as it shows that Umno leaders do not uphold the principles entrenched in the Malaysian constitution and the Rukun Negara, among which are the rule of law and the doctrine of the separation of powers among the executive, Parliament, and judiciary.
“It is clear that the Umno leaders of the present day have deviated far from the principles of the first four party presidents: Datuk Seri Onn Jaafar, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, and Tun Hussein Onn,” he said. – The Vibes, January 24, 2022
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