Liew: Turf wars began as soon as Pakatan rose to power

PETALING JAYA: Egos set in and ministerial “turf wars” began as soon as Pakatan Harapan came into power, says Liew Chin Tong.

The former deputy defence minister said detractors pitted former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad against DAP ministers during Pakatan’s rule, adding that the top leadership focused its energy on the more controversial parts of the coalition’s 14th General Election manifesto.

Liew said civil servants used the manifesto as a “holy book” and “top civil servants each held a copy of the manifesto hastily printed in the office at every meeting we went to”.

In his book Lim Kit Siang: Patriot, Leader, Fighter, he claimed Dr Mahathir disagreed with the toll abolition agenda stated in the manifesto.

“This was one of the issues that tore the Pakatan government apart.

“Dr Mahathir also wanted to drop energy, science, technology and climate change minister Yeo Bee Yin from his Cabinet over her defiance on Lynas and other environmental issues,” he claimed.

“The leaders later managed to dissuade Dr Mahathir from executing his plan. Yeo stayed on.

“As the DAP had campaigned against the project since 2012, there was a hardcore base that had expected the swift closure of the plant.

“Emotions were being fanned to showcase the ineffectiveness of the DAP,” he said in his book.