DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang's "offer" to retire has been described as the latest twist in his "touring opera show" plot.

This description was made by the prime minister's aide Tengku Sarifuddin Tengku Ahmad, who said that Kit Siang's offer was merely an attempt to distract the public from other issues.

"Every time Kit Siang fails to get his way as a leader, he tries to win sympathy by announcing he is prepared to sacrifice himself and retire in order to save DAP," said Tengku Sarifuddin according to The Star.

He said that Kit Siang's "retirement plans" were heard before and the public won't buy it again.

"Dictators do not retire - they make others retire, but not themselves. They only make offers of retirement when they need to divert attention from their own failures.

"Kit Siang obviously has no intention of passing on the party leadership to Dr Tan Seng Giaw," he said.

On Monday, Kit Siang said he would be touring the country to seek public feedback on whether he and his son Lim Guan Eng should quit politics in hope that this would prevent the Registrar of Societies from deregistering DAP.

The veteran opposition lawmaker claimed that the ruling party was presently threatening DAP with deregistration in a bit to force his retirement.

Maybe Kit Siang hoping for deregistration

Tengku Sarifuddin, however, believed that Kit Siang was hoping that DAP would be deregistered for his own benefit.

"Nobody is talking about deregistering DAP ‎except for Kit Siang and his sidekicks. Maybe Kit Siang is hoping for deregistration so that he can get rid of those party members and half of the CEC delegates who are known in DAP to be against his dictatorship and the Lim family dynasty," Tengku Sarifuddin said.

He advised Kit Siang to refrain from talking about deregistration of DAP and stop blaming Umno and BN for DAP's internal party problems.

"It is time for Kit Siang to retire‎ from his half-century long ‎dictatorship. Malaysians should know that it would be a disaster for the country if the DAP-led opposition were ever to wield power," said Tengku Sarifuddin.

He said that the legal status of DAP's central executive committee (CEC) and secretary-general were not recognised by the ROS.

The ROS is expected to make a decision on DAP next week.