KOTA KINABALU: DAP is a party which puts politics above all things in its efforts to take over the government, even to the point of sacrificing the truth.
Barisan Nasional (BN) strategic communications director Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan said this was why DAP could not accept any of its leaders speaking the truth, should what they say be against the ultimate aims of the party.
To take over the government, he said, DAP was even willing to sacrifice its principles by accepting Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as candidate for prime minister, despite the fact that he had been their worst enemy prior to this.
“For the 22 years Dr Mahathir was prime minister, DAP criticised each one of his policies. DAP is a party that only wants to take advantage of things for the sake of politics... they have no principles, no integrity.
“They were even prepared to sacrifice Dr Tan Seng Giaw, eight-term member of parliament for Kepong, just so that they can ensure their political agenda of spreading lies can continue.
“I really feel sorry for Tan... he stood for the truth and the truth could not be accepted by the DAP leadership,” he told reporters after the launch of the state level Jelajah Pendidikan Bumiputera 2018.
Also present were Jelajah Pendidikan Bumiputera committee chairman Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Sahol Hamid Abu Bakar and Sepanggar BN chairman Datuk Yakub Khan.
Last week, DAP dropped Tan, 75, and named Lim Lip Eng, who was Segambut MP, in his place in Kepong.
It has long been said that Tan had been a thorn in the DAP leadership’s side, especially as he had never spoken out against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak over the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) issue.
As vice-chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Tan was privy to the investigations into 1MDB carried out by the Dewan Rakyat standing committee.
The PAC had cleared Najib of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB issue, and Tan had come out to reiterate this immediately after being dropped as a DAP candidate.
Rahman, who is also minister in the prime minister’s department, called Tan a patriot “even though he is a member of the opposition”.
“He has always fought for the truth and spoken the truth, whether inside or outside of Parliament, especially on issues concerning 1MDB. I think he feels that he cannot lie to himself either, so when he says there is no evidence that (Najib) was involved in any wrongdoing (in the 1MDB issue), then this must be the truth.
“I’m sorry, but sometimes I feel disgust when I see political leaders, like those in DAP, change direction in midstream just for political expediency. Today, we want to show Malaysians that this is the kind of attitude DAP has,” he said.
On another matter, Rahman said the list of candidates for BN in Sabah for the 14th general election was “99 per cent” completed.
“We will leave it up to Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman to make the announcement. This is beyond my scope of duties, so let the chief minister make the announcement.
“What I can say is that the candidates are not only those who can win, but will win. We cannot deny that in Sabah, we have elected representatives who are veterans but are still accepted by the people.
“We cannot just sacrifice a candidate who has a good track record just so we can fill a certain ‘quota’,” said the Sabah BN secretary.