DAP should stop peddling “fake news” about the government but instead be concerned if they could use their rocket logo in the coming general election, the prime minister’s press secretary Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad said.

Taking a swipe at Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong’s recent analysis about the Najib administration, Sariffuddin said the Registrar of Societies does not currently recognise the validity of DAP’s Central Executive Committee.

“This is because DAP’s party elections are alleged to be gerrymandered and an undemocratic fix up by Penang Official 1 and his father to perpetuate that family’s half-century long dictatorship over DAP,” Sariffuddin said, referring to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng as the Penang Official 1.

Liew in a recent statement had said that time was not on Najib’s side with the general election looming, pointing out that Prime Minister and Umno president Najib Razak’s popularity among voters was at a historic low and was unlikely to recover.

Liew, who is also the DAP’s political education director, had said the mishandling of the Bandar Malaysia deal, the Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) fiasco and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) suit on 1MDB have further weakened Najib’s position.

He added that Najib might be one or two mess-ups away from an internal revolt.

Sariffuddin shot back in a statement last night, saying that Liew “should stop pushing what is obviously fake news, smears and outright lies” about the government.

“He should be more concerned about the serious predicament of his party, DAP.”

Sariffuddin said the fact that the RoS currently does not recognise the validity of DAP’s Central Executive Committee would mean that the party’s secretary-general (Lim Guan Eng) was in no position to authorise anything in the party as his post was not legally recognised.

“In fact, DAP’s entire leadership is under threat and could be declared illegal for their alleged election manipulation.

“The best Liew Chin Tong and his colleagues could do for DAP members would be to ask Penang Official 1 to resign, instead of displaying contempt for elected office by staying on as chief minister despite facing multiple corruption charges.

“Ask Lim Kit Siang to retire after half a century of failed dictatorship,” Sariffuddin said.

Lim is facing two charges of graft which he claimed were politically motivated.

“If Liew Chin Tong refuses, he should just keep quiet and refrain from parroting the tired old smears of a tired old dictator.

“We are now in the 21st century. Dictators are relics of the past – although the opposition, even though it claims to speak for democracy, now has not one but two dictators leading it,” Sariffuddin added. – July 2, 2017.