KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 — DAP national chairman Lim Guan Eng said Umno has been using "false narratives" against his party, in an attempt to regain power in the upcoming 15th general election (GE15).
In a statement today, he alleged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob as among leaders who made such remarks when the latter labelled the "Pakatan Harapan government as being a DAP government", as well as twisting facts and numbers on DAP, when it was in government under PH.
Lim said that although DAP is the main party in PH, it never dominated the government.
Yesterday, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang had in his blog post alleged that Ismail Sabri tried to justify the 'Sheraton Move' conspiracy at the Selangor Barisan Nasional convention on Sunday.
Ismail Sabri reportedly said the move "unconstitutionally and undemocratically toppled the elected Pakatan Harapan government" after 22 months, on the grounds of DAP's dominance in the PH government.
"PH's cabinet consists of 29 members, whereas DAP only had six ministers. None of the six DAP ministers held the position of prime minister or deputy prime minister. Ismail should go back and learn mathematics on how to count if he believes that six out of 29 Cabinet members equate to dominating the government Cabinet.
"Umno's false narrative continues with the claim that DAP refused subsidies or direct financial assistance. The limit of RON95 at RM2.08 per litre was initiated under PH, where the price drops below RM 2.08 per litre when the world crude oil price falls, but is not allowed to exceed RM 2.08 per litre, when the price rises," he added.
Lim said that DAP's transport minister at that time, Anthony Loke, had also proposed the reimbursement of RM555 million to the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT), which was spent to take over the concession of the Automatic Enforcement System (AES) for driving offences, which was approved by the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
He said that DAP had also initiated an 18 per cent toll reduction for the North-South Expressway (PLUS) as the first step towards the complete abolition of PLUS tolls by the end of 2022, in contrast to Ismail Sabri's government, which failed to reduce tolls by a single cent.
"Finally, in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by PH with Ismail Sabri in September 2021, DAP's proposal to increase the injection of RM45 billion to help the needy and the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) affected by the Covid-19 pandemic had been agreed to.
"Most of the aid, which has been renamed the Malaysian Family Assistance, has been received by businesses and citizens from the additional RM45 billion fund injection proposed by DAP. By only citing DAP's name, Umno is playing on extremist sentiments to win the general election by blaming everything on DAP. A classic case of Umno distorting facts and figures is PH's successful bailout package for the troubled Tabung Haji (TH) after financial irregularities," he said.
Lim said that the rescue package was supported by the MoF even.
He lamented that Umno had previously also falsely accused DAP of harming and putting non-Muslims in charge of TH. However, after returning to the government, the party did not make any comment when the auditor general confirmed that the timely steps taken by PH had saved TH from financial woes.
