DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke today accused BN of using his party to divert from claims of multi-billion deposits in Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's personal bank accounts.
This was after Najib blamed DAP for blocking reforms for better transparency in political funding amid claims the Umno president received RM2.6 billion in his own accounts.
BN strategic communication director Abdul Rahman Dahlan had similarly blamed DAP for being a stumbling block for political funding reform in a widely publicised opinion piece yesterday.
Loke ( photo ) pointed out that BN had conveniently blamed DAP for disagreeing with the political funding reform but had no qualms in bulldozing draconian laws which DAP fiercely opposed.
"This is probably the first time that an Umno prime minister 'admitted' that DAP is so powerful in Parliament that we can 'shoot down' any efforts by the BN government to legislate new laws in the country.
"I am the current DAP Parliamentary Whip but I never realised that we are so powerful that we can block legislative efforts by Umno.
"DAP had opposed many repressive laws in the past such as the Sedition Act and Prevention of Terrorism Act, but did Najib ever taken our opposition into consideration and repeal those laws?" Loke said in a statement today.
Political funding reforms
Loke conceded that DAP had in the past expressed concern about political funding rules as contributors to DAP, particularly from small businesses, want anonymity for fear of backlash from the government.
However, he said the parliamentary select committee on electoral reform in 2012, in which DAP was a part, had proposed for reforms to political funding but this was ignored by the government.
"Let me put the record straight. The DAP had never opposed any efforts to reform political funding in Malaysia as we never had millions, let alone billions of Ringgit in donations for our election campaigns.
"While I did state the reality on the ground that many of our supporters who donated to our cause chose to remain anonymous as they feared of any witch hunts by the BN government post elections especially small traders and businessmen in small towns throughout the country.
"The DAP had never taken a position to oppose the reform and encourage more transparency in political funding," he said.
Loke said instead of taking aim at DAP, Najib should come clean on the RM2.6 billion allegation.
"Najib has no moral authority to talk about political funding reform when he can’t even answer the question of whether RM2.6 billion was deposited into his personal account," he said.
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