Pulau Betong rep Muhammad Farid Saad of Umno said Lim now could only dream like Malay folklore character Mat Jenin after his plan to hold early polls was called off due to disagreements with PKR, a partner in Pakatan Harapan.
Farid said this in countering a remark by Lim’s political secretary Wong Hon Wai, who earlier today said Farid and Penang BN chairman Teng Chang Yeow were dreaming “like Mat Jenin” for wanting to call for a vote of confidence in the State Assembly over Lim’s ability as chief minister following the polls debacle.
Mat Jenin refers to a youngster in a Malay fable who daydreams so much that he dies after failing to pay attention to his work.
However, turning Wong’s remark on its head, Farid said it was Lim who was acting like Mat Jenin. “There are people who keep acting like Mat Jenin when their proposal to hold snap polls is reduced to nothing but a dream after being rejected by PKR,” he said.
He noted that Lim had asserted before that he wanted to have the elections, not due until mid-2018, so as to save Penang and Malaysia.
“When the proposal was dropped, does it mean that the DAP and Lim Guan Eng have also shelved their intention to save Penang because Lim Guan Eng is still saved as chief minister?” Farid asked.
Lim announced on July 31 that the DAP was aborting its plan for early state elections because of a differing stand by PKR.
Lim later dared BN to pursue a motion of no confidence against him, to which Farid yesterday said the CM should instead ask his own Pakatan Harapan backbenchers to initiate a vote of confidence in his leadership.
In his statement today, Wong said both Farid and Teng were dreaming if they thought a vote of confidence in Lim’s ability as CM would ever be held.
“I stress that both of them should convince their BN colleagues in Parliament to raise a motion of confidence for the Prime Minister,” Wong, who is the DAP’s assemblyman for Air Itam, said.
“Then only would they have the moral ground to ask Pakatan Harapan assembly members to do the same in the Penang State Assembly.”