He said Kuok had admitted donating to the two parties in his memoir.
“But we have to be sporting, it is Kuok’s right (to donate) as this is a democracy.
“But why are we (DAP) being criticised. We are attacked when the ones that benefited were Umno and MCA, not DAP.
“By right, Umno and BN must apologise to Kuok for claiming that he had donated to DAP and for their attacks on him,” Lim told reporters at Komtar today.
Lim read a sentence from Kuok’s memoir published in December which stated: “I was often asked to give substantial donations to the ruling parties, Umno and MCA, after independence in 1957. I gave willingly, happily and freely.”
Lim said: “I am reading this sadly. I ‘sakit hati’ (saddened) he has not donated to DAP. But it is okay; it is his right.”
Lim said DAP, like all opposition parties, relied on political donations from individuals and fund-raising dinners.
“Table to table, seat by seat, that is what we do to get donations. We need political donations, but we do not have donations from tycoons like Kuok.”
Blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin recently claimed that Kuok had channelled funds to DAP through his nephew, James. James has, however, denied this.
Raja Petra also claimed that Kuok had an agenda to replace Malaysia’s leadership with DAP, so that the Chinese could be in power.
Three months ago, Kuok published “Robert Kuok, A Memoir”.
While some have commended Kuok, Malaysia’s richest man and one of Asia’s top tycoons, for the views expressed in the 376-page book, others questioned his loyalty to Malaysia.
Among other things, Kuok, popularly known as the “Sugar King”, wrote that he had moved his business headquarters to Hong Kong from Kuala Lumpur in 1975 because of lower taxes in Hong Kong and his disdain for the New Economic Policy, implemented after the May 13, 1969 riots.