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PETALING JAYA: DAP has consistently won more seats in Parliament during general elections in the past of its own free will, and not because of any wave of support brought by Dr. Mahathir Mohmad, said party stalwart Lim Kit Siang.
Dr. Mahathir had told China Press that he was instrumental in providing Malaysian support and that the DAP would not have won “more than 18 seats” if it weren’t for him. The DAP now has 42 seats in Parliament.
Lim said Mahathir was “wrong” because DAP won 24 seats in the 1986 elections and that the numbers rose to the current number of 42, in two general elections in 1990 and 2008.
“I admit that Mahathir helped the DAP win 42 parliamentary seats in the 2018 general election, but to say that the DAP could not win more than 18 parliamentary seats is totally incorrect,” he said in a statement.
He said that despite being labeled anti-Malay and anti-Islam, DAP maintained its multiracial motto, producing political leaders from all strata of society.
Lim said that as early as the 1969 elections, two Malaysian leaders of the DAP were elected as state assemblymen and the party had once nominated Ibrahim Singgeh as Perak menteri besar in case the party won the state.
He said there have been more than a dozen Malaysian assemblymen and MPs under the wings of the DAP since then, adding that the party would not work with kleptocratic leaders from Umno, whose number had “expanded from two to three people.”
Separately, Lim referred to Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s call to give “Malaysian citizenship” to everyone, regardless of race. He said that everyone must first consider themselves as Malaysians.
“Let’s move on with the times. Only then can we achieve a Bangsa Malaysia as envisioned in the failed Vision 2020. “
