Raja Sara Petra

DAP’s Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, said he will agree to debate MCA’s Deputy President, Wee Ka Siong, the subject of the Penang undersea tunnel corruption scandal on condition Wee contests the Bagan parliamentary seat in the 14th general election.

PPBM’s Chairman and Pakatan Harapan’s Prime Minister-in-waiting, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, also wants to debate Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. Will Mahathir also agree to contest the Pekan parliamentary seat in the 14th general election as a condition for the debate just like what Guan Eng is doing?

When Najib did not turn up for the ‘Nothing to Hide’ debate, they said he has something to hide. Now that both Guan Eng and his father, Lim Kit Siang, did not turn up for the Penang undersea tunnel corruption scandal debate, does that also mean they have something to hide?

Anyway, what is important is that Wee and Guan Eng are both party leaders of almost the same status. Mahathir, however, is a retiree while Najib is the Prime Minister of Malaysia. That means Mahathir has absolutely no status compared to the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Therefore, it is highly improper for Mahathir to challenge Najib to a debate.

Raja Sara Petra

One side of the argument on Malaysia’s new fake news law is that it curtails freedom of information. That, of course, is one view. But then there are always two sides to any argument and fake news does serious damage if not controlled. Anyway, why fear fake news laws if you are innocent?

Take the UK as one example. Many people now regret voting for BREXIT. They say they were influenced by fake news to vote for BREXIT and now have come to realise that most of what was said were all lies. Politicians twisted the truth and made all sorts of false claims that have now been proven lies.

But now it is too late. The BREXIT referendum is final and cannot be reversed. Not only Britain, but also the entire Europe has to pay for what fake news did to influence British voters to vote for BREXIT.

The same as what is going on in Malaysia. Pakatan Harapan spreads fake news saying it will abolish highway toll charges. However, the latest hint is that it would be impossible to do that because the government cannot afford to subside the cost.

On the 6% GST, Pakatan promises it will be abolished and replaced with SST, which will be more than double the 6% GST. But I suspect Pakatan will just retain the GST in the end. So that is another fake news from Pakatan.

Using schools to spread hatred? Really? Leave our kids alone please, they are innocent! Nak main politik cari tempat elok sikit boleh tak?

Raja Sara Petra

The Kuala Terengganu Member of Parliament, Raja Datuk Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad, asked if the government will use the proposed fake news law to silence critics of 1MDB. Why is it the Pakatan Harapan people are so fixated and obsessed with 1MDB and feel that everything the government does is motivated by 1MDB? Pakatan seems to breath, eat and sleep 1MDB.

The problem is, whenever the government explains 1MDB the opposition refuses to accept that explanation and insist it is a lie. But if the government does not say anything the opposition says the government is trying to hide the truth. And now they say the fake news law is meant to silence all discussion on 1MDB. After three years what more is there to discuss since you don’t believe the truth anyway?

Anyway, this is the same thing the opposition used to say about the Internal Security Act (ISA) when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the Prime Minister for 22 years. They alleged that the ISA was meant to silence those who criticised Mahathir or who exposed his wrongdoings. Now that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has abolished the ISA they still complain. Apa lagi Pakatan mahu? Cakap sampai buih mulut pun tak guna macam ni.

RAJA SARA PETRA

Raja Sara Petra

Lim Kit Siang is attacking the MCA Deputy President, Wee Ka Siong, by calling him an “Umno catspaw”, and said Wee’s actions were aimed at staining and tarnishing the Penang Pakatan Harapan’s reputation for integrity and good governance. How can the DAP Penang Government be the bastion for integrity and good governance when it is plagued with corruption scandals? And what has 1MDB got to do with the Penang undersea tunnel?

Kit Siang sudah what the Malays would call melatah. He knows the scandals in Penang plus those in Selangor are going to hurt DAP and Pakatan Harapan in GE14. The only way to save DAP would be for Lim Guan Eng to resign and hand power to someone else. Why can’t they even do a simple and noble thing like that?

Stop blaming others for your mistakes. Kalau dah makan duit haram just accept the consequences and go. Ini cakap banyak pulak.

Raja Sara Petra

In July 2017, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad defended his August 1998 decision to sack Anwar Ibrahim and said he had no regrets doing so. Today, nine months later, Mahathir says it was wrong for him to sack Anwar 20 years ago. What is Mahathir trying to do? Is he trying to rewrite history? If he is then it is not going to work because whatever has happened over the last 20 years is on record and cannot be changed whatever new story Mahathir is trying to come out with.

Up to very recently Mahathir insisted that Anwar is an immoral person who is not fit to become Prime Minister. Since September 1998, Mahathir revealed what Anwar had done and even said that the police were aware of it long ago. Is Mahathir doing a U-turn because he cannot explain why Anwar is not fit to become Prime Minister from 1998 to 2017, and suddenly in 2018 he is now fit to become Prime Minister?

Maybe Mahathir feels silly that he now supports someone who he said is not fit to become Prime Minister as the next Prime Minister. How can Mahathir support Anwar as the next Prime Minister if Anwar is an immoral person? Mahathir is not trying to clear Anwar’s name. Mahathir is trying to clear his own name. He knows he looks silly condemning Anwar for 20 years and then now supports Anwar as the next Prime Minister. It will be Mahathir and not Anwar who will appear immoral.

Raja Sara Petra

Pakatan Harapan’s Election Manifesto is not a new document by any means. Pages 5 to 19 are actually recycled or lifted from earlier documents published in 1999 and 2008 — such as Agenda Reformasi, Deklarasi Rakyat, and so on, which my father was involved in drafting. You can, in fact, Google those documents and still find them on the Internet. That means Pakatan Harapan’s Election Manifesto is same-old-same-old with really nothing new to say. Does this mean Pakatan Harapan is bankrupt of ideas?

Many of the promises Pakatan Harapan makes in its Election Manifesto also cannot be implemented without a major amendment to the Federal Constitution of Malaysia. This essentially means Pakatan Harapan must not only win the general election, but they must win it with a two-thirds majority in Parliament, or not less than 149-150 seats. A two-thirds win in Parliament for Pakatan Harapan is impossible and is not going to happen. So that means Pakatan Harapan can ‘safely’ not deliver its election promises and not take the blame for it.

Pakatan Harapan is taking the voters for a ride. This is what we would call fraud. They make promises they cannot deliver, and they know when they cannot deliver these promises they can shift the blame to the Federal Constitution of Malaysia and not take responsibility for the failure. Removing the 6% GST and replacing it with the SST more than double that is stupid. You are merely giving back the rakyat RM1 and then taxing them RM2 in other ways. Have they done their arithmetic or not? How can abolishing RM45 billion in taxes and then taxing the rakyat RM100 billion in hidden ways be a better deal for Malaysians?

It is the same when Pakatan promised to abolish highway toll charges in 2008, which are mainly all in Selangor. After coming to power, they said highway toll charges is a federal matter and the Pakatan Selangor State Government has no power to remove them. That is a lie. The Pakatan Selangor State Government does have power to abolish highway toll charges. All they need to do is pay RM500 billion to the highway concessionaires so that highway users can drive on the highways free-of-charge. Why do they not do this?

The issue is money. With just RM2 billion in reserves, the Pakatan Selangor State Government cannot afford to abolish highway toll charges. And even if Pakatan Harapan gets to form the federal government, they still cannot afford to fork out RM500 billion to allow Malaysians to drive on the highways free-of-charge. So this has nothing to do with the argument that Pakatan is just the State Government and not the Federal Government.