DAP rejected proposal to protect Malay sensitivities, says Muhyiddin

Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman Muhyiddin Yassin last night said that his calls for the DAP political bureau to take a more moderate approach to sensitive issues involving the Malays was rejected during Pakatan Harapan's (PH) 22-month stint in government. 

He said he had met with the deputy defence minister at the time, Liew Chin Tong, who was also a member of DAP's central committee, to discuss the matter. 

He said Liew had agreed that DAP's position was too "extreme left" when it came to issues like the Federal Constitution, the Malay rulers and Islamic religious institutions. 

"I said, can you consider this matter and bring it back to the political bureau, so that from the extreme left, the party can move towards the centre and be more moderate?

"He agreed," Muhyiddin said at a programme in Sepang, Selangor, last night.

Also present was PN information chief Mohamed Azmin Ali, women's chief Rina Harun and PAS information chief Khairil Nizam Khirudin. 

According to Muhyiddin, he raised his concerns after realising that the Malays were still withholding their support for DAP even though it was part of the PH government in Putrajaya. 

He said Liew later told him that DAP's political bureau had not agreed with this view. 

"This meant that they wanted to continue with policies that we knew we were not suitable for us, as a basic struggle in DAP which conspired with Anwar Ibrahim in PH," he said. 

He said it was no surprise that several decisions were made which were not in line with the agenda to empower the Malays, such as cuts to the special allocations for Bumiputera programmes like Teraju. 

Azmin previously said that PH's finance minister, Lim Guan Eng, had blocked allocations for Teraju during the coalition's time in government. 

He said the matter could be proven as it had been recorded in writing.