MP SPEAKS | It is quite some time that we have heard from former Penang chief minister, Koh Tsu Koon, but it is a pity that he could not come out of the box of a petty politician to become a statesman.
Koh mentioned that I am 77 years old.
I recently went up to level 65 of Komtar to experience the new Komtar attraction of The Gravityz, and had a scenic view of George Town from a height of 239 metres above ground, with only a rope attached to the body.
Koh is very much younger. Perhaps he would like to experience Komtar Gravityz also.
This is not the first time that comments had been made about my age and political relevance.
Before the 2004 general election, another political leader said that Karpal Singh and I were “outdated medicine whose shelf live has expired”.
I mourn the ‘Tiger of Jelutong's” unfortunate premature passing - in three weeks’ time on 17th April, we mark Karpal’s fourth anniversary of leaving us – but far from being “outdated medicine whose shelf life has expired”, we miss Karpal as he would be a tower of strength in the critical times we are going through in creating history, to bring about the first peaceful and democratic change of federal government in the nation’s 61-year history.
I have no doubt that Karpal would have very early seen the larger picture and fully supported the direction taken by DAP and Pakatan Harapan, including the designation of Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the prime minister-designate, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the deputy prime minister-designate, and Anwar Ibrahim as the eighth prime minister of Malaysia.
Koh claims that my support for Mahathir, who turns 93 in July, to become Harapan’s prime minister-designate contradicted my earlier statement regarding the late Dr Lim Chong Eu.
I believe that if Lim is still alive today, he would have left the dark side and crossed over to support the Harapan campaign to save Malaysia from the trajectory of a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state.
When will Koh (photo) leave the dark side and join the forces for light, justice and moderation in the country?
The country is going through trying times with new pretenders on the political scene. We see political leaders denouncing fake news and want new legislation and mechanism to fight fake news but who are in fact the greatest manufacturer and peddler of fake news, like the stance that the 1MDB scandal does not exist at all, and all adverse reports about 1MDB scandal are just fake news.
These are political opportunists who use the language of fighting fake news to get immunity and impunity to concoct and peddle fake news.
Similarly, a new tribe of anti-corruption champions have emerged, who could concoct an RM20 billion Penang undersea tunnel out of nothing but dare not say a word about the 1MDB scandal which had made Malaysia overnight into a global kleptocracy.
These are Umno’s new “ninja assassins” –whose role is to distract attention from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s (photo) RM50 billion 1MDB scandal and Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy!
Koh seemed to have joined this new tribe of anti-corruption champions who do not dare to breathe a word about the 1MDB scandal, when he said that none of the Gerakan’s public office holders in the past four decades had been accused or charged with corruption, unlike the present administration – obviously referring to today’s corruption trial of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
Koh seems to have developed considerable empathy with the political leader who said some 14 years ago that Karpal and I were “outdated medicine whose shelf life has expired” as this politician who recently said that “staying neutral on 1MDB doesn’t mean its defending evil”.
They cannot be more wrong – for when the 1MDB scandal is evil personified, causing Malaysia to be regarded as a global kleptocracy, staying neutral on 1MDB is undoubtedly defending evil!
It is quite a marvel to see a political party which claims itself to be the “conscience” in BN embracing the three Is – infamy, ignominy and iniquity – of Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy.
As for old men in politics – unusual times call for unusual tactics. Deng Xiaoping was paramount leader in China and led his country through far-reaching market-economy reforms in the years when he was 74 to 85 years; and in the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill was summoned at the age of 66 to be prime minister to lead the country in the Second World War to defeat Hitler’s Nazi Germany, and again re-elected as prime minister of the United Kingdom when he was 77 years.
If Mahathir can lead Harapan to effect the first peaceful and democratic transition of power in Putrajaya, the first step for Malaysia to become a normal democracy where voters can peacefully and democratically choose the new government of the day, this will be Mahathir’s greatest legacy to Malaysia.
LIM KIT SIANG is DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Gelang Patah.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
