Latest Political Opposition Leadership Structure Farcical - Najib
KUALA LUMPUR, July 25 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today described the recently-announced political opposition leadership structure as farcical, and said it sounded like a return-to-work programme for old-age political pensioners.
He said it was also cynical and deceptive that there were three leaders but without clarity as to who among them had the executive powers, and that DAP was deliberately kept invisible despite controlling the opposition behind the scenes with the vast majority of its parliamentary seats.
"As for their Prime Minister candidate, the opposition is so desperate they are now trying to make the people believe it will be a nonagenarian - who is not even a member of parliament and whose party has just one seat!
"But the truth is that in a democracy numbers don't lie, and DAP remains by far the most dominant party in the opposition," he said when delivering his keynote address at Invest Malaysia 2017 here.
Najib said the DAP leader of the last half century was now hiding behind the man who had jailed him, trying to deceive Malays into thinking that the former leader is their interim candidate for prime minister.
On July 14, the opposition Pakatan Harapan pact announced a new leadership structure where it named Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as chairman, PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as 'ketua umum' (de facto leader) and PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as president.
Najib also said that the words of the opposition could not be relied on either, and cited the latest statement by a member of one party who questioned the Haj quota for Malaysia.
"Just recently, a leading member in one party said that if Malaysia had such good relations with Saudi Arabia, why had the Haj quota not been increased? But it has! Twice this year, from 22,230 to 27,900 and then up to 30,200," he said.
He said that was another example of the benefits government policies had brought to the people - in this case Malaysia's foreign policy of forging friendships abroad, rather than holding grudges for decades, as that certain former leader still does.
Najib said the people, however, would not hear about the very real benefits from Malaysia's engagement with Saudi Arabia, China, India or anywhere else from the opposition.
In fact they'll tell barefaced lies about it, just as they have been feeding lies about the economy and stoking fears of economic disaster in Malaysia.
"There has in fact been a concerted campaign to send such misinformation overseas to damage Malaysia's economy for their own selfish political objectives. So, if you receive these smears, or you read it in publications that do not check the facts properly, please beware.
"It is not fair to the Malaysian people, and it's not fair to the business community, both at home and abroad," he said.
Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed and Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa were also present at the event.
-- BERNAMA
