LETTER | Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s refusal to apologise for Operasi Lalang, his insistence that his actions against former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim is correct and refusal to condemn Perkasa for declaring “war” against the government if the United Examination Certificate is recognised shows that DAP’s supremo Lim Kit Siang and his son secretary-general Lim Guan Eng have failed to influence their coalition partners.

On the contrary, it seems that the DAP father-and-son leadership has been influenced by Dr Mahathir instead, who has openly insisted that he was right on all three counts by words and deeds with Lim Kit Siang sitting silently and quietly alongside him in the recent youth townhall meet in Petaling Jaya.

Despite Perkasa (of which Mahathir was founder patron) chairperson Ibrahim Ali’s open declaration of war against the government , Lim Kit Siang, who will be the first to jump at MCA and allude the Perkasa statements to BN (in the past), has deemed it fit to be a “lapdog” (a term DAP will use on MCA under similar situations) by keeping quiet on this high-profile debate on the political significance of DAP to insist that Mahathir, Muhyiddin Yassin and Anwar Ibrahim declare their support in order to facilitate UEC’s final smooth approval without fearing any political backlash or war from Perkasa or their likes.

If Anwar’s appointment of non-Mandarin speaking senior assistants to vernacular Chinese schools can allegedly ignite racial tensions resulting in Mahathir’s Operasi Lalang, the open declaration of war by Perkasa cannot be taken lightly if these three Pakatan Harapan personalities of Mahathir, Anwar and Muhyiddin are still perceived to be against UEC recognition.

If DAP cannot deliver this simple political gesture of support for UEC by influencing their partners, why am I wasting my time debating with a non-starter who is making “pompous” claims of DAP success in dictating to the three “ultra-Malay” personalities in Mahathir, Anwar Ibrahim and Muhyiddin?

All that the rakyat can see now is that Lim Kit Siang and DAP had made many U-turns since being converted by Anwar Ibrahim to re-embrace PAS, and later to embrace Mahathir’s racial party and Muhyiddin Yassin’s “I am Malay first”.

DAP is also seen to have accepted Mahathir’s unapologetic recalcitrance on Operasi Lalang, and his continued insistence that there was sufficient evidence on Anwar Ibrahim’s wayward sexual activities, et cetera. So is this how DAP convinces Mahathir, or have they been convinced by Mahathir now?

If DAP’s Member of Parliament cannot comprehend these fundamental issues of political correctness, then I am not going to respond to her political nitpicking.

The thinking rakyat will prevail and see through DAP’s political insincerity, which is blinded by greed for more power.

TI LIAN KER is MCA publicity spokesperson and religious harmony bureau chairperson.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.