KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 — Parti Amanah Negara communications director Khalid Abdul Samad has revealed that DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng was willing to give up his post as finance minister leading up to the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.
Sinar Harian reported him as saying that Lim agreed to be dropped from Cabinet, so as to avoid being seen as the cause of Malay rejection towards PH.
This apparently took place during the negotiations for then-interim prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to be nominated for the role for a third time, and presented to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
“DAP told Tun that it did not matter, because of us the Malays cannot accept (PH) and lessening the number of DAP ministers would also be fine,” Khalid was quoted as saying during the Shah Alam Pakatan Activists’ meeting at Dewan Meranti in Seksyen 19 last night.
He added that Lim’s willingness to resign as finance minister should be seen as the type of politics to be admired.
“This is politics which places the nation first and foremost, prioritising the rakyat,” Khalid said.
The Shah Alam MP also said PH component parties have been advised to not point fingers at one another as to why the coalition collapsed as the federal government.
He explicitly mentioned that Dr Mahathir and PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim were not guilty in this respect.
“Rather it is (former economic affairs minister) Datuk Seri Azmin Ali who should be viewed as the mastermind behind all this, and who is fit to be called a seditious traitor.
“He incited (Tan Sri) Muhyiddin Yassin, who was originally very loyal towards Tun. We were brought down not by the rakyat, but by traitors and bandits,” he was quoted as saying.
Khalid said PH will continue to ask for an audience with the Agong, so as to prove that it really has majority support from among the MPs.
He added that PH is also ready to take legal action to declare Perikatan Nasional as a government which lacks the rakyat’s mandate and majority support.
