DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang today defended Tabung Harapan Malaysia from criticism by a PKR Central Leadership Council member who called it a “politically charged fund” after a 12-year-old donated his savings of eight months at an event yesterday.
In a statement, Lim said he was shocked at Latheefa Koya’s use of phrases and words such as “pretty cheap stunt” and “ridiculous”.
He said he had been “very touched and moved” at Ervin Devadasan’s contribution of RM214.60, which the boy had been saving to buy a drum set.
“A 12-year-old primary school kid demonstrating by deed his deep love for the country!” he said.
Later that evening, he said, he had received a call from a reporter asking him for his response to Latheefa’s comment which was posted on Twitter.
“Tabung Harapan is a politically charged fund. So to get a 12 year old to hand over his piggy bank is ridiculous and a pretty cheap stunt,” she had said.
Lim said he was shocked, especially as it had come from one of the Pakatan Harapan parties.
“I did not want to create an unnecessary issue and only responded with a terse comment: ‘Flabbergasted is an understatement’,” he said.
He said he had also read Reuters’ interview of Najib Razak last night in which the former prime minister said he would have acted if he knew 1MDB funds had been misappropriated.
Describing Najib’s interview remarks as “a shocker”, Lim asked if Najib was unaware of the three filings by the US Department of Justice in the California Court from July 2016 to June 2017 “in a 251-page kleptocratic litigation to forfeit US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets”.
“Reading Najib’s Reuters interview, it struck me that yesterday was the day when a 12-year-old primary schoolboy, Ervin Devadasan, showed an ex-prime minister the true meaning of patriotism.”
In wanting to reduce the national debt caused by Najib’s government, Lim said, the boy had showed he was “more patriotic than former prime minister Najib”, giving the DAP veteran even more hope for Malaysia’s future.
He described Tabung Harapan Malaysia as a manifestation of a Malaysia reborn, “where Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, culture, language, politics, age or gender can come together to show their love and patriotism for Malaysia”.
“Malaysia’s tragedy is what 12-year-old Ervin and many in his age group understand, but the sixth prime minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018 does not understand or seems unable even to grasp its meaning.”
