Kit Siang asks Dr M, Ku Li not to contest in GE15

DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has urged fellow political veterans Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah to drop out of the upcoming polls to make way for younger leaders.

“I ask Mahathir and Tengku Razaleigh to decline nomination as candidates in GE15.

“Let the fulfilment of the Malaysian dream to be a great world-class plural nation be on the shoulders of younger Malaysians,” Lim said in a statement today.

The 81-year-old announced his retirement from politics in March and will not be fielded as a candidate in GE15.

Meanwhile, Mahathir, 97, is planning on defending his Langkawi seat, despite earlier saying he had no such plans.

Razaleigh will also run in Gua Musang again, where the 85-year-old has served as MP since 1986.

In Lim’s statement, which he called an open letter to all GE15 candidates, the incumbent Iskandar Puteri MP said Malaysia has strayed far from the founding fathers’ original nation-building principles.

Despite the initial aspiration to be a beacon of light to a difficult and distracted world, Malaysia has contributed “to the darkness” instead in the past six decades, he added.

Lim recalled the stories of Tunku Abdul Rahman selling his house in Penang to fund Umno when he first took over the party in 1951 and second prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein asking “how would it look if the prime minister spent public money on building a swimming pool for his family?”.

Lim said none of the first four Umno presidents – Onn Jaafar, Tunku, Abdul Razak and Hussein Onn – would have made a speech such as the one the current president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi made about winning GE15 to prevent BN leadership from getting embroiled in court cases.

Kleptocracy takeover

The founding fathers such as Tan Cheng Lock, Tan Siew Sin and VT Sambanthan, also would not have ever imagined Malaysia becoming a kleptocracy at its worst, Lim lamented.

“In GE14, kleptocracy referred to one person and to the 1MDB scandal.

“In GE15, kleptocracy refers to more than one person and more than the 1MDB scandal. Malaysia has lost its way,” Lim said, adding that the country must reset.

The original nation-building principles, he said, include constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy, separation of powers, rule of law, an independent judiciary, good governance, public integrity with minimum corruption, meritocracy, respect for human rights and national unity, and harmony within diversity.

Lim pointed out Malaysia has also been losing out to one country after another in terms of the economy, such as Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Vietnam.

“Unless we buck up, we will lose out to more countries,” he added.

‘Worth saving’

Malaysia used to be way ahead of countries such as China, India and Indonesia on the annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by Transparency International.

Lim now predicts China will overtake Malaysia within this decade while India and Indonesia will do so by the next decade.

However, he said Malaysia is still “saveable and worth saving”.

Lim urged all candidates to pledge they will do their utmost to fulfil Malaysia’s potential and fully restore Sabah and Sarawak’s status based on the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

“Furthermore, let Bagan Datuk be a straight fight between kleptocracy versus rakyat,” he added.

Bagan Datuk is where Zahid is contesting. The BN chairperson is expected to face Pakatan Harapan’s candidate Shamsul Iskandar Akin and independent Tawfik Ismail, who is also the eldest son of former deputy prime minister Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman.

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