Chariot and Temple House Burnt to Ground

Kit Siang dares Najib to ask for confidence vote

By Shannon Teoh

KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s dismissal of Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) recent win in Penanti has riled the DAP.

The party’s parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang challenged Najib to prove that Barisan Nasional’s (BN) skipping of the Penanti polls was not an act of cowardice. A recent poll of 1,067 registered voters in Malaysia showed that the prime minister only has a 45per cent approval rating just two months into his administration.

“The latest opinion poll shows he is the most unpopular prime minister in the first two months of office in the nation’s history of six prime ministers. It is Najib who should feel the heat that his record is nothing to be proud of.

“Najib should seek a vote of confidence as the first item of business when Parliament reconvenes on June 15, or is he afraid that he would not get 100 per cent support from BN MPs?” the Ipoh Timur MP said.

He was referring to Najib’s comments that Dr. Mansor Othman’s 5,558-vote majority was “not exciting” nor can “a win against independent candidates be something one can be proud of”.

Lim claimed that this win was achieved despite Umno and Gerakan each sponsoring a candidate who both lost their deposits after garnering less than the required one-eighth of votes cast.

“This is really sour grapes by Najib, who should be ashamed that the Umno and BN he leads dare not contest in Penanti, for fear that it would be his third consecutive defeat in the peninsula since becoming prime minister and BN’s fifth consecutive defeat here since the March 8 political tsunami in last year’s general election,” he said.

Lim asserted that the Penanti win was achieved despite many PR supporters not turning up to vote due to the sure-win scenario but that if BN had contested, the Umno candidate “would have gotten a thrashing even worse than in last year’s general election.”

He also cited the Merdeka Center poll that found only 45 per cent of respondents were satisfied with Najib’s premiership.

As such, he called on Najib to follow in the footsteps of Tun Hussein Onn and Tun Abdullah Badawi who sought votes of confidence in their first months in office.