DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang is prepared to take part in a debate with the prime minister and Umno president or any senior Umno leader on “who is a Malaysian patriot” or “what are the challenges of a Malaysian patriot in 2017”.

Lim’s proposal is in response to what he believes to be the maligning of former Umno presidents and deputy presidents by the current leaders for “becoming stooges or puppets after stepping down from office”.

“Umno leaders can disagree with their former Umno presidents and deputy presidents, but they should not malign their characters, as if Umno leaders, once they relinquish their positions, become morally worthless characters. Are they reflecting on their own moral character and worth?” Lim asked in a statement today.

Yesterday, he said he and former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad are patriots who had joined forces to save Malaysia from “degenerating into a political and economic basket case and to save Malaysia from the curse, ignominy and infamy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy”.

“Minister of Communications and Multimedia Salleh Said Keruak thought he was very clever and wrote a blog post ridiculing those who claim themselves as patriots, citing for example that ‘most historians agree that Adolf Hitler was a patriot and 100 million people died because of this’.

Famous quote Salleh did not know

“I am surprised that Salleh did not seem to know the famous quote, ‘patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel’ by Samuel Johnson, but we are, of course, differentiating between genuine and false patriots,” Lim.added.

Pointing out how Malaysia had become the “sick man of Southeast Asia” due to the various scandals plaguing the country, the Gelang Patah MP wondered whether this was the work of patriots.

“Will a patriot allow Malaysia to be ridiculed throughout the world as a ‘global kleptocracy’, doing nothing to clear such infamy and ignominy, in fact doing the very opposite by persecuting and silencing those who want to get to the bottom of the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal?

“For Salleh’s information, I had said that there are at least 10 areas where there must be a ‘reset’ of nation-building directions and policies, and the support of these 10 ‘reset’ objectives will be an important test of whether a Malaysian is a patriot or not.

“If Salleh, as minister for communications and multimedia dares to organise such a public debate, I would accept the challenge without hesitation,” Lim added.

As for the continued use of images of him, Mahathir, PKR top leaders Anwar Ibrahim, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Azmin Ali and Parti Amanah Negara president Mohamad Sabu under the caption ‘Asalkan Bukan Pakatan Kit Siang’ (As long as it is not Kit Siang’s coalition) by Umno mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia, Lim pointed out that he had also worked with former prime ministers Tunku Abdul Rahman and Hussein Onn when they were no more prime minister and Umno president.

“Are Tunku and Hussein’s pictures to be added to the Utusan Malaysia logo ‘Asalkan Bukan Pakatan Kit Siang’ that like Mahathir, Anwar, Azizah, Azmin and Mohamad, the Bapa Malaysia and the third prime minister had also been my puppets or stooges?

“Clearly, I have more faith and respect for the Malay race than the present Umno ministers and leaders or Utusan Malaysia have,” Lim said.