GE14 | People should not be afraid of criticising Pakatan Harapan even if it means being branded “running dogs,” BN strategic communications deputy director Eric See-To said today.

The term 'running dog' is a literal translation of a Mandarin term that means 'lackey'.

At a talk tonight, See-To repeatedly assured the audience that they do not have to fear being critical of Harapan if they are speaking the truth and want to hold the opposition coalition to account.

“We have been played by people in Harapan that if you say something good about BN or something bad about Harapan, you are a ‘running dog’ and you are a traitor to your race, which I get called a lot.

“My mother asked (me) why are you called a traitor to your race and asked my relatives why they don’t like me.

“I said, ‘Very simple, if I jump over the other side tomorrow, I am idol ah? Like Mahathir? Nevermind, mom after this election we will decide’.

“The thing is if we are always under the threat and scared of telling the truth, Harapan gets to get away with murder because they will abuse your trust and support,” he said, drawing from his personal experience.

Despite not running for office, See-To appeared to be the main attraction and spoke for over an hour at the ‘Political talk: The current issues in Malaysia’ event at SJK(C) Sungai Way in Petaling Jaya today.

In contrast, the four BN candidates featured at the event only spoke for less than 10 minutes each.

MCA’s Ryan Ho Kwok Xheng, the newcomer picked to be BN candidate for the Damansara parliamentary seat, addressed the crowd for just three minutes.

The other three candidates were MCA’s Tan Gim Tuan and Ch’ng Soo Chau, for the state seats of Kampung Tunku and Bandar Utama respectively, as well as Gerakan’s Syed Abdul Rahman Alsagoff for Bukit Lanjan.

'Najib misunderstood'

In his speech, See-To touched on a wide range of hot button topics, including the 1MDB scandal and the RM2.6 billion donation banked into caretaker prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s personal account.

He maintained that Najib had returned the donation, and said that businessperson Low Taek Jho, commonly known as Jho Low, had no links to the state investment fund.

See-To added that Najib (photo) had not been accorded due appreciation for "saving" Malaysia from a recession during the global oil price crisis in 2014.

“Our (caretaker) prime minister saved Malaysia, he is often misunderstood.

“Between 2014 and 2016, global oil prices dropped 80 percent. If the main commodity of a country drops 80 percent, most countries will go into recession straight away," he said.

“But we didn’t because Najib implemented the GST and distributed BR1M. We also started reducing our reliance on oil.  

“People should be praising the (caretaker) prime minister. But because we did not suffer (from a recession), we are now scolding him,” he added.

In See-To's speech, caretaker Selangor menteri besar Mohamed Azmin Ali came under fire over the state's water crisis and the contentious Ijok land sale, as did caretaker Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng over the undersea tunnel project. 

In particular, he took aim at Lim's purported failure to explain why a company allegedly paid RM22 million to “cover up a bribery investigation.”

Though See-To did not name the company directly, it is believed to be a reference to Consortium Zenith Sdn Bhd, the main contractor of the undersea tunnel.

Previously, the MACC arrested two individuals who allegedly received RM19 million and RM3 million respectively to put an end to the graft body's investigation into the project.

Editor's note:

Malaysiakini previously misquoted See-To in this article. This oversight is regretted.