KUALA LUMPUR: DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said he has already corrected his statement made on Umno and PAS' official political collaboration yesterday. He remarked that everyone should read the corrected version instead.

Lim who is also Finance Minister, declined to comment further on the earlier version of his statement in which he had said the unification of Umno and PAS was a "declaration of war against non-Malays".

The earlier statement was published in an article by Malaysiakini.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference after launching Bank Pembangunan's RM3 billion Industry Digitalisation Transformation Fund, here, today, Lim said, "I have corrected my statement...please read that."

In an updated version of the article on Malaysiakini, an editor's note was added bearing the message: "10.30pm - Lim corrected his earlier statement which originally used the words "declare war on non-Malays."

Lim had cautioned that the cooperation between Umno and PAS would put non-Malays in the political crosshairs.

Lim said that the move signalled the end of the '1Malaysia' concept propagated by the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) administration, claiming that Umno doubled down on the rhetoric of race and religion in recent by-elections.

MCA party president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong, in an immediate response yesterday slammed Lim's earlier statement as "inflammatory and irresponsible".

"Never before in Malaysia's history has a politician made an inflammatory statement like Lim Guan Eng, who said that the cooperation between Umno and PAS is a declaration of war among the races," said Wee, who is also Ayer Hitam MP.

Following the statement, MCA together with Umno and PAS lodged a police report, claiming Lim's statement was seditious.

In the meantime, Lim said he was surprised at MCA's attitude towards the new relations between Umno and PAS.

He said it was a common political game by the MCA who did nothing but only attacked their political enemies, for instance, the DAP.

"I am puzzled by MCA's silence when the government was attacked by Umno and PAS after providing allocations to Chinese schools.

"And why PAS and Umno are silent when MCA attacked me after allocation was approved for religious schools and tahfiz," Lim asked.