Khalid labelled DAP as Pakatan's 'Achilles heel'. ― Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 — PKR leader Khalid Jaafar has accused DAP of being disloyal and blamed the party for the turmoil within Pakatan Harapan, even as detractors blame the coalition’s short rule on Datuk Seri Azmin Ali’s defection.

Khalid, a close confidant of the former PKR deputy president, said in a column on Sinar Harian published today that PH’s predominantly Chinese component member is the bloc’s “Achilles heel” because some of its leaders have been openly critical of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Khalid also claimed that DAP secretly detests the coalition’s dominant Malay leadership and had schemed to erase PAS’ influence in Pakatan Rakyat, the bloc that predates PH, and rule through proxy.

“It is quite clear that the DAP is PH’s Achilles heel,” he wrote.

“They know their secretary-general can never become prime minister so they positioned themselves as the kingmaker and place someone like Tony Pua as the grey eminence — the man who dictates the nation’s financial and economic direction from behind the curtains.”

Pua, MP for Damansara, is the political secretary of the most recent finance minister, Lim Guan Eng, and was seen as the brain behind many of MoF’s policies.

Khalid also suggested the DAP has a hold on PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was pitted against Azmin because the latter had purportedly worked to curb the DAP’s “monopoly” on Chinese support by promoting PKR’s own lineup of Chinese leadership.

This eventually sowed the seed of animosity between Anwar and Azmin, he alleged.

“Anwar will always defend DAP and call its critics racists,” Khalid wrote.

“In fact during negotiations for seats he put DAP first above his own party. DAP did not want any Chinese leaders in PKR to emerge as challengers to DAP’s dominance among the Chinese communities.

“Remember what happened to Datuk Seri Chua Jui Meng? This was among the reason that started the friction between Azmin and Anwar.”

Chua, a former federal minister, quit MCA to join PKR in 2009. The former Bakri MP’s defection prompted pundits to tout him as a promising prospect for the party.

But Chua somehow faded from the political scene following his defeat at the 13th general election.

In today’s column, Khalid alleged that DAP and PKR had forced Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s resignation by pressuring him to outline a timeframe to resign.

Azmin has claimed that the pressure prompted his faction to switch allegiance in a supposed attempt to block a plot to unseat Dr Mahathir. But the former PKR number two eventually threw his support behind Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who was appointed as Dr Mahathir’s successor amid controversy.



