KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 — DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang today called for the Pakatan Harapan (PH) presidential council to respond to Tawfik Ismail’s request to contest the Bagan Datuk seat, currently held by Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Lim said allowing the son of former deputy prime minister Tun Dr Ismail Abd Rahman to contest the seat under the PH banner would send a clear message to voters.

"This will be an excellent way to highlight the theme of the 15th general elections (GE15),” he said in a statement, expressing hopes of fighting corruption within the country and building Malaysia into a world-class plural nation by its centennial.

Tawfik previously said he will be among the line-up of candidates presented by a movement called Gerak Independent (GI).

The movement is said to be a collaboration of several non-governmental organisations like Malaysian Action for Justice, Unity Foundation, I Am The Third Force, KitaBantuKita, and Malaysia First.

Lim also took a jab at Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s speech at the 76th MIC general assembly earlier this month, saying that the aim of GE15 is not to ensure the Barisan Nasional leaders escape from being charged in court for corruption.

In a viral video, Zahid was shown alleging that both he and convicted former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak were victims of political and selective prosecution by BN’s rivals as leaders of BN and told members of the audience that "you are in the waiting list”.

These included Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, MIC president Tan Sri S. Vigneswaran and his deputy Datuk Seri M. Saravanan, and MCA president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong.

Ahmad Zahid is currently facing another trial in connection with Yayasan Akalbudi, a foundation formed to eradicate poverty and help the poor, where he is a trustee and later became the sole signatory of cheques.

In this trial, Zahid is facing 47 charges, namely 12 counts of criminal breach of trust in relation to RM31 million of charitable foundation Yayasan Akalbudi’s funds, 27 counts of money-laundering, and eight counts of bribery charges over the receiving of RM21.25 million in alleged bribes.