Khairy’s regrets are too little and too late, says Lim

(Berita Daily) – Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin’s expression of regrets now for keeping quiet in addressing the scandals besieging the Najib Razak government is too little and too late, said DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang today.

Lim said that it appeared as though the former youth and sports minister was still not prepared to “bell the cat”.

“It is as clear as day that Khairy is studiously avoiding the issue of 1MDB scandal and Malaysia being tarred with the epithet of a global kleptocracy,” said the Iskandar Puteri MP.

Lim asked if Khairy would urge the Umno and BN leadership, including all former ministers and MPs, to tender a public apology for their betrayal of the nation’s trust in not speaking up against the 1MDB scandal.

“Is Khairy now prepared to bell the cat? Has he seen “clear signals” now?,” said Lim.

He was referring to an interview given by Khairy to Channel News Asia yesterday in which he had wished he had told former premier Najib about how the grassroots had rejected Umno following the sacking of Muhyiddin Yassin and Mohd Shafie Apdal.

“We didn’t want to bell the cat,” the Umno Youth chief told Channel News Asia.

“Nobody, after Muhyiddin was purged, after Shafie was purged… Nobody wanted to acknowledge we have a problem. That was a terrible mistake on our part.

“Was there a signal? Yes, there were clear signals but we became oblivious to the signals.

“This must not happen again, we must not ever allow our leaders in Umno to be detached from reality and not ask tough questions. If we continue with our feudal mindset of protecting the leader from the truth, Umno will go extinct,” Khairy had said.

BN lost its 61-year rule of the nation when it was roundly defeated by Pakatan Harapan pact in the GE14.

Pakatan Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has initiated investigations on the 1MDB scandal and had said yesterday that his government was very close in charging Najib in court for corruption.