In Reply to : Revoke Utusan’s permit, Najib dared posted by Revoke Utusan’s permit, Najib dared on April 18, 2011 at 12:16:08:

Don’t ape Utusan, Soi Lek told
April 18, 2011

DAP takes the MCA boss to task for turning the Sarawak polls into a racial issue. It also accuses Soi Lek of practicing double standards.

KUALA LUMPUR: DAP has warned MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek not to emulate Utusan Malaysia’s tactic of racialising the results of the Sarawak election.

The key issue in the polls, said DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, was about change and not whether voters wanted Chinese representation in the government.

He was responding to Chua’s call that SUPP should not accept any position in the Sarawak state Cabinet, as the party had lost the Chinese community’s support

In a statement, Lim reiterated that DAP’s focus in the Sarawak polls was not the Chinese-based SUPP but rather Chief Minister Taib Mahmud.

“DAP won 12 out of 15 seats because voters want change and prefer a two-party system over one-party rule, people’s power over one-man rule and good governance over Taib’s misrule,” he said.

He added that Sarawak voters sent a loud and clear message to SUPP that they clearly wanted Taib to go.

“SUPP was rejected by voters because it failed to represent the people and was seen as Taib’s representative. Therefore the most important issue that SUPP must address if SUPP is sincere in accepting the decision of the voters, is to withdraw support for Taib as chief minister.

“SUPP’s failure to listen to the people’s verdict, by not demanding Taib’s immediate resignation, will only dishearten its supporters but hearten Taib. Any attempts to threaten to leave the state government or punish urban and Chinese voters for supporting the opposition are desperate efforts by MCA to distract and cover up media attention from the real issue of whether SUPP dares to ask Taib to go,” he added.

‘Chua practicing double standards’

Lim, who is also Penang chief minister, said if the MCA president was consistent then he should have offered similar advice to Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon following the 2008 general election.

“Is Chua not practicing double-standards when he did not ask Tsu Koon not to go through the back-door of being appointed a senator and a Cabinet minister?

“Why then did Chua not object to MCA joining the Cabinet and accepting ministerial posts after MCA lost badly in the 2008 general election?” he asked.

If Chua was genuine, Lim said, he should instruct Perak MCA state exco Dr Mah Hang Soon to resign immediately as MCA won only one state seat there in the last 2008 general election.

“His failure to ask Mah to resign shows his typical double-standard of saying one thing but doing another,” he added.

Utusan gets shelled

Meanwhile, Lim also slammed Utusan for urging the government to ignore the Chinese community because it always backed the opposition.

“Utusan’s call is not only racist but also against the very tenets of democracy. If BN takes punitive action against urban voters, the Chinese community and anyone for exercising their democratic rights to vote for the opposition, then what is the point of holding elections?” he asked.

“For a paper that wants to celebrate the murder of innocent non-Malays during the bloody May 13 riots in 1969 as a holy and auspicious day, to continue such racist and extremist attacks is not surprising.

“What is surprising is that for an Umno paper like Utusan, Umno continues to allow and sanction its racist approach against non-Malays and non-Muslims both in the Peninsular and East Malaysia. Is such racism and extremism by an Umno paper consistent with 1Malaysia?” he said.

Yesterday, MIC’s publicity and communication chief S Vell Paari also took the daily for task over the article.