Lim claims that Najib is now the leading spokesperson for Barisan Nasional and Umno. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 — DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang has sounded the alarm by claiming the “kleptocratic and kakistocratic” leaders of the previous administration are attempting to make a political comeback.

He further claimed that former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak would seek to solidify his power via the Umno party elections, which will be held later in the month.

“Najib will be back atop the Umno pile, though not as its president but as the power behind the throne,” the Iskandar Puteri MP said in a statement.

He said that three recent developments in the month since the historic election indicate a comeback is in the works, with the first being that Najib is now the leading spokesperson for Barisan Nasional and Umno.

“He issues periodic statements to attack the PH government, except that it cannot get any audience as he has lost all credibility and trustworthiness.

“Another is the surfacing of the faceless and nameless Umno Strategic Communications Unit, which on May 24 laid claim on behalf of the party to the assets seized by the police from the Pavilion Residences,” Lim said.

The third indication was from Malay daily Utusan Malaysia, which he said had practiced more “sober and responsible journalism” in the immediate aftermath of the polls.

However Lim said the Sunday edition showed that they were allegedly reverting back to their old journalism of “fake news and false information”.

“In the weekend column Utusan’s editorial voice Awang Selamat accused DAP with the lie that it wants to abolish the constitutional monarchy and turn the country into a republic, thus re-peddling the Umno campaign of race, religion, hate, fear and lies,

“There is a common unifying factor propelling these three developments, which is the involvement of the same personalities who had turned Malaysia into kakistocracy and a kleptocratic state,” he said, calling upon others to “beware”.