KUALA LUMPUR, July 26 — Malaysia can help bring back the greatness of past Islamic civilisations, DAP lawmaker Lim Kit Siang said today.

He was responding to the Malaysia-Turkey-Pakistan pact Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad proposed yesterday on his working trip to Ankara — for the three Muslim-majority countries to take the lead in speaking up for the global ummah which faces internal and external conflicts.

Lim said Malaysia, Turkey and Pakistan should pool their resources to make Islamic civilisation great again, but must steer clear of what he coined as “klepto-theocracy”, which he described as a culture of peddling lies, falsehoods, distrust, suspicion, hatred and supporting thievery and corruption.

“Dare we dream such big dream for Malaysia — which includes transforming Malaysia from a global kleptocracy into a leading nation of integrity in the world and a top world-class nation in as many fields of human endeavour as possible?” he asked in a statement.

“Is it possible to make Islamic civilisation great again based on klepto-theocracy which misuses Islam to peddle lies, falsehoods, distrust, suspicion, hatred and which supports thievery and corruption?” he said.

The Iskandar Puteri MP said Malaysia has the unique opportunity “as the confluence of the great cultures, religions and civilisations in the world” noting the country is an amalgamation of Islamic, Chinese, Indian and Western influences.

He said a “great Malaysian civilisation” could signal to the international community a path towards new heights if it could rid itself of things holding back its progress.

“Malaysians were not ‘reaching for the stars’ to achieve greatness but were instead locked in destructive pursuits like creating suspicion, distrust and hatred by  pitting race against race and religion against religion,” he said.

Lim said an example of “klepto-theocracy” was a reported remark by Umno president Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi that his PKR counterpart Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had become indebted to DAP.

“Zahid had earlier insinuated that Dr Mahathir was my stooge and was only doing my bidding. In his reply to Anwar, he insinuated that Anwar has become my stooge. This would mean I have two stooges — Mahathir and Anwar.

“How [much] ‘dumb and dumber’ can an Umno leader get?” Lim asked.