Kit Siang laughs off ‘puppet of Mahathir’ claim

What can Mahathir use me for, says DAP veteran who was locked up under ISA by Mahathir's government.

PETALING JAYA: Lim Kit Siang has brushed aside varying claims that he and Dr Mahathir Mohamad had become each other’s puppet by forming an alliance to oust Najib Razak.

Speaking at a DAP forum in Kuala Lumpur, he acknowledged receiving criticism for teaming up with his old foe, who had once detained him and his son, Lim Guan Eng, under the Internal Security Act.

Lim said cyber troopers had spread “lies and untruths” to say that he and Mahathir were each other’s puppet.

He said he did not have the power or financial means to manipulate Mahathir. As to the former premier, “what can he make use of me for?” he said, according to Malaysiakini.

Explaining why he had been able to lend support to Dr Mahathir and the declaration last week, Lim said politicians must rise above personal feelings. “In the interest of the nation, we must not be too personal. It’s about the interest of the people and country.”

He recounted how he and Guan Eng were among the first to be detained and the last to be released during Operation Lallang in 1987, in the midst of an Umno power struggle, when the Special Branch swooped on more than 100 anti-establishment critics and dissidents, and four newspapers were shut down.

Lim told reporters he had never hated Mahathir. “I’ve never hated anybody. Because in politics, you cannot be personal,” he was quoted as saying.

After his release from detention, he had gone to see Dr Mahathir, and had asked why Najib Razak, then Umno Youth leader had not been arrested as well.

Najib was reported to have made a blood-thirsty speech at a public rally in Kuala Lumpur about Malay-Chinese relations in the midst of a public outcry over Chinese education. He denied making the remark about drenching the keris in blood.

-FMT NEWS-