There seems to be a cold war brewing between Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Kepong Member of Parliament (MP) Lim Lip Eng.
This is not the first time since the 14th general election concluded that Mahathir engaged in public ‘battle’ with members of the DAP.
TTF is made to understand that both Lim Kit Siang and Mahathir each wants the other gone, with the latter aiming to squeeze the DAP out from an equation involving several Muslim led parties and MPs.
The only way the DAP can outmanoeuvre Mahathir is if PAS agreed to forge a unity coalition with the DAP, UMNO, Anwar’s men, Sabah, Sarawak and Amanah towards becoming the next Government of Malaysia (GoM).
KUALA LUMPUR: There seems to be a cold war brewing between Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Kepong Member of Parliament (MP) Lim Lip Eng.
Earlier today, Mahathir defended former Attorney-General (AG) Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail by saying that the latter may have had his reasons for not charging former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman on counts of corruption.
“There must be a reason for it, I think the matter is not fully understood and I think will we seek some clarification what the actual situation was at that time.
“Even if he (Abdul Gani) explains it or not, other parties such as the MACC must explain why in those days there was no prosecution (against Musa),” said Dr Mahathir at a press conference after attending the launch of ‘Gold Note of Hope’ by Poh Kong on Thursday.
Mahathir said this when asked by reporters to comment on Lip Eng’s grouse that Abdul Gani had failed to charge Musa for corruption in 2012 while serving as AG.
Yesterday, the Keopng MP publically requested the former AG to clear the air over the issue amid claims that the latter had stayed his hand due to his purported family ties with Musa.
TTF responded by citing the need for Tommy Thomas to do the same owing to his failure to press charges against former Sarawak chief minister Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud who, between the years 1995 and 2012, was alleged to have received illegal kickbacks from Japanese shipping companies exporting timber from Sarawak.
TTF further noted that Tommy needed to address the possibility of him staying his hand due to Mahathir’s extensive links with crony-tycoons who helped Taib ‘rape Sarawak’s rainforests’.
This is not the first time since the 14th general election that Mahathir engaged in public ‘battle’ with members of the DAP.
On the 5th of September 2018, TTF wrote:
Now that Kit Siang’s son has been acquitted of corruption charges by the Penang High Court, there is nothing stopping him from executing a plan of action to jeopardise Mahathir’s leadership.
He and his men have undertaken to go for Maszlee’s jugular as a first stage measure over the later’s decision to accept the post of president of International Islamic University (IIUM).
Ironically, Kit Siang was not concerned back when Mahathir first ‘appointed himself’ as Minister of Education despite it being contrary to a manifesto pledge.
As a matter of fact, the senior Lim even defended Mahathir by dictating that the latter’s decision did not “violate the letter and spirit of Pakatan Harapan manifesto” even though the said manifesto appeared to state otherwise.
But now that his son is a free man, Kit Siang probably wants Mahathir gone even if it means going at him in public.
A lot has changed since then.
TTF is made to understand that both Lim Kit Siang and Mahathir each wants the other gone, with the latter aiming to squeeze the DAP out from an equation involving several Muslim led parties and MPs that Mahathir is trying to unite.
While TTF is supportive of Muslim led parties coming together, there is a definite attempt by both the DAP and Mahathir to outmanoeuvre each other by pandering to Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, PKR’s de facto chief.
But the DAP is handicapped.
The only way the party can outmanoeuvre Mahathir is if PAS agrees to forge a unity coalition together with MPs aligned with Kit Siang, Dato’ Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Anwar, Dato’ Seri Shafie Apdal and Mohamad Sabu towards becoming the next Government of Malaysia (GoM).
However, that will never become a reality given the assurance several PAS, Sabah, Sarawak and UMNO division leaders gave TTF of their respective parties’ refusal to have anything to do with Kit Siang, Anwar and Zahid.
