KUALA LUMPUR: It is amusing and comical that Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali suffered sleepless nights after the DAP declared that it was not anti-Malay or anti- Islam, said suspended Gelang Patah MP in a statement. “He claimed to be shocked by the statement and said he could not sleep for 50 hours.”
“Clearly, Ibrahim Ali was still talking when sleep-walking.”
Lim asked Ibrahim to explain why he did not find him objectionable, being allegedly anti-Malay and anti-Islam, when he frantically sought his help when he was trying to escape detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for his activities as a student leader in the seventies. “I raised this issue publicly some five years ago, and Ibrahim Ali did not dare to challenge the veracity of my statement.”
“This show the quality of leadership of the Perkasa Chief.”
Lim was expressing his gratitude to Parti Amanah Negara Perak Vice-Chairman Mohd Zainuddin Mohd Yusof, also the former Perak State Exco member and former Perak State Assemblyman for Lubok Merbau, who was Malacca Road Transport Department director in the eighties and nineties, for relating what happened in Malacca some three decades ago.
“He rightly pointed out that there has not been another case of a political leader who was prepared to pay the supreme sacrifice — losing his Parliamentary position, going to jail and be disenfranchised for five years, not able to stand for elective office or even to cast his vote for five years — after his prison release,” said Lim.
Lim was referring to his son, the DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who was jailed in Kajang Prison in 1998 after defending the honour and dignity of an underaged Malay girl. “I have been in politics for 50 years.”
“Suddenly, other DAP leaders and I are being demonised as anti-Malay and anti-Islam.”
Lim wonders why such lies and falsehoods were not used on a massive scale against them until very lately, particularly after the 13th General Election in 2013. “The answer was very obvious.”
“The sudden escalation of the campaign of lies, fear and hatred to demonise DAP leaders as anti-Malay and anti-Islam stemmed from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Umno propagandists living in fear that they would be defeated in GE14, the next General Election.”
The escalation of the demonisation campaign against the DAP stems from the Umno leadership’s fear of weakness and insecurity and not a sense of strength and righteousness, warned Lim.