Tengku Sariffuddin said it was an “Ali Baba” strategy where the frontman was Malay but the real power broker was behind the scenes.

“However, Malays today are beginning to detest this dirty tactic as it insults their intelligence.

“Why are DAP and Kit Siang playing this trick? Because now that Anwar Ibrahim’s influence on PH is waning, they need a new Malay figure at the front to camouflage them,” Tengku Sariffuddin said in a statement yesterday.

He said that DAP and Lim knew very well that Malays would not support them outright.

But instead of having faith in their existing partners like opposition leader Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail in PKR or Mohamad Sabu in Amanah, he said they chose to form a new pact with PPBM chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad, knowing full well that the former prime minister would not contest in the next general election and that his party has only one seat in Parliament.

He said DAP’s decision to endorse Mahathir to lead PH was an insult to PKR and Amanah.

“DAP and Kit Siang attribute this decision to the experience and gravitas of Mahathir. But this is clearly hypocritical since the opposition parties launched the reformasi movement expressly against Mahathir,” he said.

Tengku Sariffuddin said Lim was using his old nemesis and jailer to lead DAP’s charge into the Malay heartlands.

“This is why they are letting Mahathir do all the policy talking. The main aim of DAP is to win over Malay voters.

“For Kit Siang personally, the alliance with Mahathir is meant to erase his image as anti-Malay and anti-Islam. But what Kit Siang fails to understand is that the Malays can sense they are being used by DAP,” he said.

Tengku Sariffuddin said it was no secret that a vote for Pakatan was a vote for DAP, not PKR, Amanah or PPBM.

“DAP is the real power behind the opposition. However, DAP is now in a state of panic as they have realised that the Malays are aware of what is going on, and that the real puppet master is Kit Siang,” he said.