GE14 | DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang has doused talk that the party intends to claim the menteri besar post should Pakatan Harapan win the state in the 14th general election.

Speculation over the matter had grown following news that its recent recruit academic Abdul Aziz Bari would be given a Perak seat.

“Aziz Bari will be a candidate for Perak DAP's state seat, but DAP won't lay any claim to the office of the Perak menteri besar.

“Umno is already creating fear among the Malays that Perak would be run by a DAP menteri besar (if Harapan wins),” he said at a press conference in Batu Pahat today.

“I want to make it clear; DAP won't make a claim. It will be a Harapan MB – it can be anyone, but it won't be from DAP,” he said.

He added he was making the statement so as to “counter the lies spread.”

Yesterday, DAP incumbent Tebing Tinggi assemblyperson Ong Boon Piow got into trouble with his party for unilaterally declaring Abdul Aziz as his successor for the seat.

DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke said Ong will face disciplinary action for bypassing the central leadership on the candiate announcement.

The party's Harapan partners, particularly Bersatu, have lobbied for the party not to field a Malay candidate in Perak state seats in the coming polls, due to concerns that the move may spook conservative Malay voters.

Perak's constitution requires its menteri besar to be a Malay.

In the last the two general elections, DAP emerged as the biggest party in Perak Pakatan Rakyat and its successor Pakatan Harapan.

However, all of its elected representatives were non-Malays, and this resulted in then-PAS assemblyperson Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin assuming the menteri besar post in 2008.