DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang has asked Rural and Regional Development Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to provide one example a day of him being racist.

This was after Ismail yesterday claimed he could compile a book on instances in which Lim was allegedly anti-Malay.

Ismail Sabri said this after Lim demanded the former prove Umno's claims he had been racist in his 50 years in politics.

"Let me tell Ismail – a book can wait, but let’s have one example a day until polling day for the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections on June 18 or five examples that I had been anti-Malay and anti-Islam in my 50 years in politics.

"He should have given one example yesterday. As he did not, he owes me one example. I await his one example a day until Friday – five examples in all – which is not too much to ask, since he is talking about a book, presumably at least 100 examples," Lim said in a statement today.

Lim also took aim at Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek who had launched a broadside against the DAP leader while on the Sungai Besar campaign trail.

Shabery had accused Lim of using PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and now Dr Mahathir Mohamad as his "warhorses" as they had worked with DAP.

Lim said Shabery should pose this question directly to Hadi, who has now aligned himself with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

The DAP lawmaker also questioned why Shabery made no mention of Gua Musang MP Tengku Razleigh Hamzah, who in the past had also worked with DAP when he led Umno splinter party Semangat 46.

"Why did Shabery leave out Tengku Razeleigh as the DAP’s 'war horses'?

"The answer is very simple. Shabery would be indicting himself, as he was a minor cog in the wheel of Semangat 46 at the time – a 'war horse' of Tengku Razaleigh.

"And if Tengku Razaleigh was used as DAP’s 'war horse' in 1990, then Shabery had played the role of DAP’s 'war horse' – a most demeaning and humiliating role for one who has risen to become a Umno cabinet minister after betraying his former political boss," he said.

Lim said he had expected more of Shabery, who was a former academician.

"Who would have believed that the once starry-eyed idealist of an academician could end up as such a hard-nosed political operator who could even defend global corruption scandals like the RM55 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion 'donation' mega scandals," he said.