Kit Siang: Polls delay will favour Pakatan Rakyat

Kit Siang: Polls delay will favour Pakatan Rakyat

By Ida Lim

May 19, 2012

Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 – Lim Kit Siang today said delays in the general elections will favour Pakatan Rakyat (PR), giving the opposition more time to “debunk lies” by the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN).

The elections must be called within a year, but uncertainty over its date has resulted in a guessing game.

“Time is on Pakatan Rakyat’s side – as any further delay in elections will only provide more time... to debunk the Umno/BN campaign of lies, falsehoods and demonisation,” said the DAP parliamentary leader (picture) in a speech in Kuching.

He also singled out the “greatest lie” in the three-year Najib administration that “Bersih 3.0 itu Kotor,” referring to the title of a documentary aired on state-run television which he claims is “very biased” and intended to “poison the minds of viewers about Bersih 3.0.”

He said that the strong show of the people’s support during the Bersih 3.0 rally had shaken the prime minister’s confidence that “June would be the best timing... to call general elections.”

The opposition stalwart said those living in rural areas “depend on the mainstream media for information” and would be “easy victims of the Umno/BN campaign of lies and demonisation, particularly about the Bersih 3.0 rally.”

But he said that delays in polls would give “more time for the urban Malay youths to return to the kampongs to tell... the truth of what happened on April 28”.

“And when the truth about Bersih 3.0 are fully understood by the Malaysian voters in the rural areas, then the country will be ready for far-reaching changes in the next general elections,” he added.

The Ipoh Timor MP said that Datuk Seri Najib Razak had realised “that although he may have secured high personal polls, his personal popularity could not be translated into high voting support for Umno and Barisan Nasional.”

However, the prime minister had earlier this month brushed off speculation that the Bersih sit-in protest on April 28 would delay the polls date, saying “we will decide on the basis of how the people view the government.”

Lim also said “there has been a very systematic and concerted attempt by those in power to demonise Bersih 3.0... as an anti-national conspiracy including an attempted coup d’etat to topple the government – a wild and most irresponsible allegation by the prime minister himself.”