Speaking at DAP’s special congress here today, he said Prime Minister Najib Razak had told the MCA annual general assembly last week that DAP could not lead the federal government even if it won with a big majority in the upcoming general election (GE14).
He said Najib, who is also BN chairman and Umno president, had also told a Malay crowd in Kuala Ketil on Jan 17 that DAP would control Pakatan Harapan (PH) if it won the election.
He said Najib had also claimed that DAP would control a new PH government even if PPBM, PKR and Amanah had more seats combined.
“Why did he say that? Because he is trying to scare the Malays into believing that DAP is a Chinese party that would control a Malay-majority government and therefore would not work for the benefit of the Malays,” Lim said.
“It is funny to see that they have created so many lies that they can’t even remember to stick to their own script,” the Penang chief minister added.
“Sometimes their lies contradict each other so badly that they expose themselves as two-faced liars,” he added.
Lim said DAP was a multiracial party from the day it was incepted in 1966 and it was “never meant to be and will never be a race-based party”.
The special congress at the Ideal Convention Centre Shah Alam was organised following a directive by the Registrar of Societies (RoS) for fresh elections to be held for the party’s central executive committee (CEC).
A total of 1,356 delegates, out of the 2,514 delegates eligible to vote according to the list from the Dec 15, 2012 party election, were present today.
Voting concluded about 2pm and ballot-counting is expected to be completed by 6pm.
The dispute over DAP’s 2012 party elections was revived in July, three years after the matter was thought to have been settled between the party and RoS.
On July 7, the RoS issued a statement saying it had instructed DAP to hold a fresh election for its CEC, having decided that DAP’s earlier re-election, held on Sept 29, 2013, was not in accordance with the law.
“RoS believes the appointment of the CEC members as well as the main position holders through that re-election, is illegal.
“The re-election should be based on the list of delegates entitled to attend and vote for DAP’s CEC elections dated Dec 15, 2012, involving 2,576 delegates from 865 branches,” then RoS director-general Mohammad Razin Abdullah had said in a statement.
Lim hoped the matter would be resolved once and for all today.
“As I’ve said many times, we are a law-abiding party, but at the same time, we wish that no one tries to test our patience,” he said.
“No other political party in Malaysia has had to elect its leadership thrice (2012, 2013 and 2017) using the same delegates’ list,” he added.
DAP re-election kicks off with half of eligible members present