He insisted that everything he had written about behind-the-scenes events immediately after Pakatan Harapan (PH) won the 2018 election was true.

He was referring to remarks by PKR president-elect Anwar Ibrahim yesterday that he (Hishamuddin) was “great at fabricating stories”.

In articles he wrote in news portal Malaysiakini last week, Hishamuddin claimed that PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail had opposed Lim’s appointment as finance minister and had proposed Rafizi Ramli instead.

Hishamuddin claimed he wanted to explain why the swearing-in of the cabinet was delayed and why Wan Azizah was absent when Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced the appointments of Muhyiddin Yassin, Mohamad Sabu and Lim as home, defence and finance ministers.

He said in a statement: “What I wrote was facts. I know what I wrote. It’s not a fabrication. It’s not rumours or hearsay.”

He said he felt compelled to write because he wanted to record history, adding that the agenda today was to defend the democratic space.

“This democratic space can vanish if we of all races do not reject those who are greedy for power, those who fight for power, not to defend the reform agenda and democratic space but to sabotage the reform agenda and return to the old feudal Malaysia,” Hishamuddin added.