GEORGE TOWN: DAP was today told to stop portraying its secretary-general Lim Guan Eng as a victim and a pauper who is unable to pay his bail.
This came after DAP launched a fund raising campaign to allegedly raise the balance of RM1 million bail imposed on the former Penang chief minister by the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court last Friday.
The former finance minister is facing court again today and Tuesday to face another two charges based on investigations concluded by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC).
Guan Eng's wife, Betty Chew, is also reportedly going to be slapped with money laundering charges this week.
Gerakan vice president Datuk Baljit Singh said Guan Eng was facing a very serious charge of asking for a 10 per cent cut from any profits gained from his RM6.3 billion pet project, the Penang Undersea Tunnel.
"And the party now wants people to pay RM10 each to contribute towards his bail!" he said.
Baljit said apart from the fund raising campaign, Guan Eng's father, Lim Kit Siang, had made a plea calling for the Prime Minister, and the Attorney General to intervene and have charges against his daughter-in-law dropped.
"I find both moves initiated by the DAP as perplexing and nothing short of hypocritical.
"The party is trying to whip up public sentiments by portraying Guan Eng as a victim of political persecution and a man who is facing difficulties raising his bail money.
"Really? Let's revisit information about Guan Eng's income, which is in the public domain. Lest we forget, there was a report in November 2018 of a list published by the MACC on its website. The list clearly showed details on the incomes of Members of Parliaments (MPs).
"Perhaps DAP leaders need to be reminded that the list clearly showed that Guan Eng topped everyone else in terms of earnings. He was ahead of 47 other MPs from the then Pakatan Harapan ruling coalition, as well as Cabinet members, taking home a cool monthly income of RM86,564.92," he added.
"If Guan Eng was somehow unable to save anything from his salaries as a chief minister of two terms, member of numerous boards while serving as a chief minister, becoming a member of parliament and then a cabinet minister, he should turn to DAP MPs to come up with the RM500,000 instead of asking the public to give him RM10 each.
"I would therefore like to advise the DAP to stop the shenanigans of portraying Guan Eng as a victim and a pauper who is unable to pay his bail.
"If he is truly innocent, Guan Eng should have no fear in clearing his name in the courts without dragging the public through the mud pit he has found himself in," he said.
Baljit also said that if the DAP truly believed in the rule of law, Kit Siang should also know better than to seek political interference in trying to get his daughter-in-law off the hook.
"Surely, Kit Siang knows better than going against the party's principles to observe the law and the separation of power in the government and institution — something which DAP has been fighting for all these years," he added.