The UMNO-led Barisan Nasional (BN) does not operate like ali baba and would never resort to trickery to deceive the voters, said Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak.

He said it was because UMNO and BN worked transparently and with mutual respect for one another within the coalition.

"We also do not make U-turns just to suit the political needs of certain individuals at the expense of the party or the coalition like what the opposition leaders do.

"The perception that the opposition tried to create is that Pakatan is a Malay-led coalition and not a DAP-led coalition," he posted in his blog sskeruak.blogspot.my, Sunday.

Salleh stressed that however this "has been proven to be a fallacy as it is apparent that DAP Supremo Lim Kit Siang is very much in control of Pakatan and he dictates what happens".

Salleh, who is also the UMNO Treasurer, said that former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim were mere props.

He explained that most Malays in DAP, "are being used as mascots to attract Malay voters when, in fact, they both have no say in Pakatan since neither are Members of Parliament".

"Basically, as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who saw through this charade, said today, Mahathir and Anwar created the perfect Ali Baba situation for DAP to hide behind.

"DAP knows that on its own it cannot woo the Malay voters so they need Mahathir and Anwar to do that," he added.

Yesterday, Najib regarded the opposition in Malaysia as "ali baba" as there was no consensus among them on the person to be appointed as prime minister should they win in the coming general election. --Bernama