It is the height of irresponsibility of the UMNO “court cluster” to force general election in Johor when for the last two weeks, Johore had the highest number of Covid-19 cases and deaths in all the states of Malaysia.
The UMNO “court cluster” want the Johore state general election to be a rehearsal of the 15th General Election which, they hope, will restore UMNO political hegemony with the return of UMNO hegemon/kleptocrats to power – and possibly a convicted criminal of corruption as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia.
If this political scenario eventuates, Malaysians will have to deny that they are Malaysians when travelling abroad or they will the butt of international mockery and odium.
The denials of spokesmen of the UMNO “court cluster” that the Johore state general election had anything to do with them are weak and unconvincing, for the “Ministers Cluster” in UMNO will have no say whatsoever to determine the slate of UMNO candidates for the Johore state general election.
A good test as to whether the Johore general election is triggered by the “Court Cluster” in UMNO is whether UMNO is prepared to elevate the issue of the war against corruption as one of the top issues in the Johore polls.
Bersatu President Muhyiddin Yassin’s revelation that the UMNO “court cluster’ had wanted him when he was Prime Minister to intervene in their court cases is most shocking as it showed that the top UMNO leaders do not uphold the principles entrenched in the Malaysian Constitution and the Rukun Negara such as the rule of law and the doctrine of separation of powers among the Executive, Parliament and the Judiciary.
It is clear that the UMNO “Court Cluster” have deviated far from the UMNO principles of the first four UMNO Presidents – Onn Jaffar, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Razak and Hussein Onn.
Lim Kit Siang
MP for Iskandar Puteri
