Statement by Prime Minister's Press Secretary
7th September 2017
1. It is now clear that DAP is the ‘Top Dog’ in Pakatan Harapan, with Lim Kit Siang as the de facto leader cleverly pulling the strings and dictating Pakatan Harapan’s narrative and appearance. It is an Ali Baba strategy where the frontman is Malay but the real power broker is behind the scenes.
2. However, Malays today are beginning to detest this dirty tactic as it insults their intelligence. Why are DAP and Kit Siang playing this trick? Because now that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's influence on Pakatan is waning, they need a new Malay figure at the front to camaflouge them.
3. DAP and Kit Siang know very well that Malays would not support them outright. But instead of having faith in their existing partners like Wan Azizah in PKR or Mat Sabu at PAN, they chose to form a new alliance with Dr Mahathir Mohamad knowing fully well that he would not contest in GE-14 and that his party has only one seat in Parliament.
4. DAP's decision to endorse Mahathir to lead Pakatan is an insult to PKR and PAN. DAP and Kit Siang attribute this decision to the experience and gravitas of Mahathir. But this is clearly hypocritical since the opposition parties launched the reformasi movement expressly against Mahathir.
5. So Kit Siang is using his old nemesis and jailer to lead DAP’s charge into the Malay heartlands. This is why they are letting Mahathir do all the policy talking.
6. The main aim of DAP is to win over Malay voters. For Kit Siang personally, the alliance with Mahathir is meant to erase his image as anti-Malay and anti-Islam. But what Kit Siang fails to understand is that the Malays can sense they are being used by DAP.
7. It is no secret that a vote for Pakatan is a vote for DAP, not PKR, PAN or PPBM. DAP is the real power behind the Opposition. However, DAP is now in a state of panic as they have realised that the Malays are aware of what is going on, and that the real puppetmaster is Kit Siang.
DATUK SERI TENGKU SARIFFUDDIN,
PRESS SECRETARY TO THE PRIME MINISTER
