Kit Siang: Ku Li's snap election warning a desperate move to seal Umno-PAS pact

SIBU: Veteran Umno MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah's exhortation to party members to get ready for a snap general election is just a "desperate" move to get Umno and PAS members to unite, says DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang (pic).

Speaking to the media after a forum on Thursday (May 16) night, he said Tengku Razaleigh knew that PAS had a " moral high ground" and so it was becoming more difficult to get it to form a pact with Umno due to its many "immoral activities".

"Saying that a snap election is round the corner is a desperate move to create a feverish situation among Umno members so that they will respond to him for them to work hard and unite with PAS.

"But I don't think (Umno-PAS unity) will happen so long as Umno has its 'Malu apa, bossku' campaign associated with Najib's kleptocracy.

"PAS has its moral high ground while Umno is responsible for telling lies and responsible for other immoral activities like corruption. So that is why there is this necessity for them to invent a situation about the election being around the corner, so that PAS and Umno leaders must work hard to unite," he added.

Tengku Razaleigh, also known as Ku Li, said on Thursday (May 16) that Umno should prepare for a snap general election even though the mandate of the current government only expired in 2023.

He said preparations must include seat allocation discussions with new ally PAS and the remaining Barisan Nasional component parties, namely MIC and MCA.

According to Lim, a snap election was not in the works as the Pakatan Harapan government still had a lot of work to do in implementing the New Malaysia.

"I don't think it is in the work as it (current term) will go up to the full five years. There is the implementation of the New Malaysia, in particular the return of autonomy of Sabah and Sarawak as enshrined in MA63.

"It is easier to develop this process when there is Pakatan in Putrajaya," he added.

Lim said the people of Sandakan, who voted Pakatan-DAP in the recent by-election, had shown that the Pakatan government would be there for a "very long time" in order to build a new Malaysia, new Sabah and new Sarawak which would take years.

He said Umno and PAS would continue to propagate the politics of lies, extremism and falsehood when they, together with Gabungan Parti Sarawak, failed to provided the two-thirds majority needed in Parliament to amend the constitution and return autonomy to Sabah and Sarawak.