Ronnie Liu takes a swipe at Dr M, says Pakatan will still be fine without Bersatu

PETALING JAYA: Ronnie Liu has taken a swipe at Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, saying that the Pakatan Harapan coalition will still be able to form the government without Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.

The DAP central executive committee member cautioned Dr Mahathir against Bersatu making decisions which were not in line with Pakatan Harapan values.

Liu said DAP, PKR, Amanah, Parti Warisan Sabah and United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) have enough seats in Parliament to form a majority without Bersatu.

He said that if Pakatan breaks up because of Dr Mahathir's actions, Bersatu has most to lose.

"Bersatu may have 26 MPs now, but DAP, PKR, Amanah, Warisan and Upko collectively have 113 seats in Parliament, enough to form a majority.

"They can band together and form a government without Bersatu," he said in a statement on Tuesday (Oct 22).

He said Pakatan is moving ahead with a multiracial agenda, but claimed that Dr Mahathir was instead pursuing the Barisan Nasional model of having a dominant Malay-based party controlling the coalition.

Liu said, among others, that this could be seen when Dr Mahathir accepted former Umno politicians as Bersatu members.

He noted that other actions of Dr Mahathir that had gone against the Pakatan spirit were not abolishing repressive laws, and withdrawing the ratification the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd) and the Rome Statute international treaty.

He also questioned Dr Mahathir's decision to still harbour controversial preacher Zakir Naik in the country.

Liu, who is also Sungai Pelek assemblyman, noted that Dr Mahathir's failure to name a date for the transition of power to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim gave people the impression that the preferred successor was not the PKR president, adding that this had also sowed discord within PKR.

He added that the khat controversy and claims that Chinese educationist group Dong Zong were racist had also damaged DAP in the eyes of the non-Muslim community.

"Instead of uniting Pakatan, his words and actions are helping to sow discord in its two biggest component parties such as PKR and DAP. Instead of uniting Malaysians, his words and actions are causing tensions to rise," he claimed.