KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 — DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang today questioned whether PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang would step down to pave the way for a more moderate and open-minded leadership under Datuk Seri Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar’s helm following his Kemaman by-election victory.

"I congratulate Ahmad Samsuri for his victory in the Kemaman by-election.

"The question now is whether Hadi Awang will step down as PAS President for Samsuri to take over to lead a PAS which is more moderate and open-minded,” he asked in a statement today.

The former lawmaker expressed concern about the potential consequences for Malaysia if the leading party of the Opposition in Parliament is led by individuals who are "media illiterate, including those with PhD qualifications".

Lim stressed the importance of leaders who can differentiate between truth and lies and identify falsehoods and fake news.

He also finds it deeply troubling that, to date that no PAS leader has condemned the actions of a PAS MP who allegedly made false and defamatory statements about him.

"It is most disturbing that up to now not a single PAS leader had condemned the PAS MP who had alleged that I am a cousin of Singapore founder Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Malayan Communist Party secretary-general Chin Peng and even changed the name of the Singapore founder Prime Minister to "Lim” Kuan Yew,” he said.

On November 27, Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng and Teresa Kok initiated three separate defamation suits against Kepala Batas MP Siti Mastura Muhammad from PAS for making unsubstantiated remarks linking them to Singapore founder Lee Kuan Yew and former communist fighter Chin Peng.

The three DAP leaders are seeking compensation from Siti Mastura whom they accused of committing both libel and slander that damaged their reputations through a TikTok video posted on an online news portal last month.

Yesterday, Ahmad Samsuri won the by-election for the Kemaman parliamentary seat in the state for PAS with a whopping vote-majority of more than 37,000 votes, based on official results from the Election Commission.

In the straight fight against Barisan Nasional candidate Gen (Rtd) Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor who won 27,778 votes, Ahmad Samsuri won 64,998 with a majority of 37,220 votes.