Enemies want Pakatan gone, Kit Siang says amid calls for DAP to quit coalition
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 — DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang said today Pakatan Harapan (PH) must remain steadfast and united to forge a common future amid testing times, claiming there are forces bent on seeing the ruling coalition disintegrate.
Lim’s rallying call comes as the bloc faces a litany of hot button issues that exposed cracks among its component parties, a point the Iskandar Puteri MP said was made notable by some supporters having suggested DAP quit PH, something unforeseeable then.
“For the first time since the historic decision of Malaysians in the 14th general election on May 9, 2018 over 15 months ago, questions have been raised as to whether DAP should leave the Pakatan Harapan government, to the extent that this was the subject of readers’ comments in a popular news portal,” Lim said in a statement.
But the DAP stalwart believed the four-party coalition has come a long way since it first banded, and that it achieved a feat otherwise thought impossible by putting their ideological differences aside to “save Malaysia”.
Lim then said the perception of infighting within PH would give its foes cause to celebrate, claiming there are “forces” working to engineer the implosion and disintegration of the ruling coalition.
“There is no doubt that there are political forces working to engineer the implosion and disintegration of Pakatan Harapan coalition government in Putrajaya,” he said.
“But those who had plotted to see the end of Pakatan Harapan government by the 62nd National Day on August 31, 2019 are very disappointed that they had failed in their latest stratagem.”
Yesterday, a news portal ran a commentary that suggested DAP abandon PH following its disagreement over policies that went against the party’s stance.
Among them was the contradiction over the government’s decision to allow rare earth miner Lynas Corp to continue operating in the country. DAP candidates, and initially agreed upon by all PH members, had pledged to shut the Australian firm down over environmental concerns.
Putrajaya has since given the rare earth miner a temporary six-month operating licence on the condition that it construct a permanent disposal facility (PDF) for its radioactive waste, among others. Like so many others, this drew accusations that PH was reneging on its election pledge.
Without mentioning Lynas, Lim said PH is obligated to explain the failure to fulfil some of its key campaign promises. This responsibility, he added, will fall on the PH Presidential Council, which has set up a high-powered committee to review the PH Manifesto.
“And if there are specific pledges which cannot be implemented, we must be frank with the people to identify them and to explain why this could not be done,” the Iskandar Puteri MP said.
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