KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 — DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang today urged Malaysians not to believe social media conspiracies that rewrite the ‘Sheraton Move’ in blaming his party for the fall of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.

In a statement this morning, Lim said that Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) must not be allowed to rewrite history by claiming that DAP had planned to topple then PH prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“Malaysians must not allow the abuses of social media — lies, falsehoods and fake news — to take a new form in rewriting history in denying the existence of the Sheraton Move political conspiracy in February 2020 and blaming DAP for plotting the toppling of Dr Mahathir as prime minister of the PH government,” he said.

He added that Dr Mahathir had stated publicly that he had never felt any pressure from DAP when he was prime minister for the second time and that talks about DAP controlling him or plotting to take over the country was nonsense.

Lim also spoke of the PH presidential council meeting held on the night of February 21, 2020, saying that Dr Mahathir had indicated he would retire as the prime minister at the end of that year.

“I left the meeting thinking that Malaysia had survived a critical political test and was shocked when the Sheraton Move political conspiracy happened the following Sunday and Dr Mahathir was toppled thereafter as PH prime minister,” Lim said.

The ‘Sheraton Move’ got its name from the Sheraton hotel in Petaling Jaya, Selangor where several prominent factions within PH had a clandestine meeting with leaders of the then Opposition Barisan Nasional (BN) that subsequently led to the formation of a new government under Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is Bersatu president.

At that time, several PH MPs from PKR, aligned with Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, switched their support to the new political bloc that later formed the shortlived Perikatan Nasional ruling government.

Lim said that the Sheraton Move had birthed two illegitimate and unconstitutional governments: The Muhyiddin and Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob administrations.

“We must not allow Bersatu spin-doctors and fraudsters to now rewrite history by denying that there was a Sheraton Move political conspiracy in February 2020 and to cleanse Muhyiddin and Azmin Ali of their historic sin by claiming that the DAP was plotting to topple Dr Mahathir as PH prime minister,” he said.

Yesterday, Lim rubbished Bersatu deputy president Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu’s claims in an interview with news portal Malaysiakini, where the latter denied the existence of the Sheraton Move and claimed that there was a coup plotted by DAP against Dr Mahathir.

He challenged Faizal Azumu to name names, saying that DAP had never been involved in any such plot.