All is not forgiven, but DAP will work with Dr Mahathir to save Malaysia

Asila Jalil Asila Jalil Updated 8 years ago · Published on 2 Jul 2017 6:25PM · 2 Comments

TO save Malaysia, DAP will work with Dr Mahathir Mohamad even though the party has not fully forgiven the former prime minister.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the party has to “think the unthinkable” to save the country – and that includes working with the man who had put him behind bars, twice.

“It is not easy. It does not mean that everything he has done is totally forgiven or forgotten, but we have a bigger problem facing us.

“Let us work together with those who are willing to fight this injustice in corruption so we can save our country,” said the Penang chief minister.

Lim said credit is due to Dr Mahathir for leaving Umno to join the opposition to do what is best for the country.

“He decided to leave Umno, which he led for 22 years, to save Malaysia.”

Lim said the elder statesman was willing to take the hard road of the opposition and be punished, victimised and vilified daily in the press as DAP had been for 40 years “because indeed it is true that Malaysia is in danger”.

Lim said he and Dr Mahathir may have their differences, and the party’s decision to work with the former Umno president may not have the approval of everyone, but all these are put aside for the sake of the country.

Lim said when the idea of DAP working with the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia chairman was first broached, his first thought was of his father, Lim Kit Siang.

“He went to prison twice because of him (Mahathir) but he (Kit Siang) said he was willing to put his personal issues aside because the country is more important,” said Lim at the book-signing of “The People’s Chief Minister: Lim Guan Eng” in Bandar Utama, Selangor, today.

On the next general election, Lim assured the people, who may think otherwise, that the opposition has “gotten its act together” and was ready for the polls.

“If you recall, in 2008, we were less ready yet we won five states and denied (BN) a two-thirds majority for the first time,” said Lim

He said Malaysians have been greatly affected by the government’s failure to address the ailing economy and the introduction of the GST.

Lim repeated the words of Dr Mahathir, who had said that the country under his leadership had prospered without the GST because it was also without the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.

“If we are clean, we can get money. Penang has recorded surpluses every year even though we do not get money from the federal government.

“Our debt has gone down by 90% and our reserves up by more than 100% because we do not steal people’s money. When we do not involve ourselves in corruption, the government can earn money.

“If we can do it in Penang, we can do it in Putrajaya.” – July 2, 2017.

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Comments

  • If PH wins GE14, there won't be any Opposition in Parliament for the next 40 years. Umno lawmakers would defect to MahaThief's Bersatu.
    After 1969, it was not until 2008 that a strong Opposition emerged in Parliament.
    MahaThief is sitting pretty. If Umno wins GE14, he wins. If the Opposition wins, he also wins. He only wants to save Umno including through Bersatu.
    At the same time, he wants to wipe out the Opposition in Parliament. He sees the Opposition as a threat to Umno.
    MahaThief has even raised the possibility that the High Income Skim Cepat Kaya Cash is King Bugis, installed by him as the tinpot dictator, may even decide not to call GE14. He’s planting ideas.
    If GE14 does not take place, MahaThief would be the happiest person in the country, while shedding crocodile tears. Razak aborted the GE in 1969 after Opposition gains in Penang, Perak, Selangor and Kelantan.

    Posted 8 years ago by Joe Fernandez · Reply

  • Lim guan eng can't step down from power to let the opposition win the election in 2013 ( and most probably he will still be in power and risk the opposition chances of winning in GE14), but he says he is prepared to work with the "man that jailed his father", for the sake of saving malaysia.

    If you can't even do the small thing, but say that you are ready and capable of doing a big thing, how is people supposed to be convinced by you?

    How in the world is lim guan eng going to save malaysia ( wow, such big ambitions), when nothing about what he says and does leads you to believe that this is a man who is capable of putting aside his personal interest for a greater cause ?

    I would like the opposition to win in the next election i suppose, but i support it like how the
    democrats supported hillary clinton in the last american election - weakly, becauseyou have no other choice, and resentful of feeling that the powers that be have manipulated you to forward their own personal interest.

    Posted 8 years ago by Nehru Sathiamoorthy · Reply