Apologise to Gerakan, MCA call to Musa

The DAP has rebuked a Penang Umno leader as being not qualified to seek an apology from two Chinese dailies which allegedly published lies about his speech during his party's Annual General Meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

Komtar assemblyperson Ng Wei Aik said (left) the state's Umno liaison committee deputy chief Musa Sheikh Fadzir may not have uttered those remarks published in the front pages of the two dailies - Kwong Wah Jit Poh and Guang Ming Daily.

However, his comrade and Malacca delegate - Hasnoor Sidang Hussein - had indeed issued the 'contentious' statement during last week's Umno AGM, added Ng.

Hasnoor was quoted in the dailies and Malaysiakini as saying that BN component parties should hand over to Umno all the seats they are not confident of winning in the coming polls, he said.

"Hasnoor had also said that MCA and Gerakan cannot win certain seats in Penang and they should hand over those seats to Umno," claimed the political secretary to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

"Musa cannot deny that Hasnoor is his comrade in Umno and his statement reflects the party's attitude of totally ignoring the existence and relevance of the other BN component parties," added Ng, in Penang.

Gerakan, MCA silence deafening

Ng questioned the lack of courage on the part of MCA and Gerakan leaders to refute the statement even though it was not from Musa.

He said this indicated that the two non-Malay parties were aware that the statement was issued by an Umno delegate and knew they could not simply dismiss the matter.

He added that Musa may ask the two dailies to issue a correction but should not be made to but to apologise to Umno and the Penang BN.

"Why was Musa (right) not bold enough to tell the truth that his comrade was the one who actually uttered the statement?" queried Ng, who is state DAP

Yesterday, Musa held a press conference in Penang to refutethe reports by the two dailies, describing them as "lies and false news", giving them seven days to issue a correction on the front page and apologise to him, Umno and Penang BN.

If the newspapers failed to concede to his demands, Musa would seek further action against the duo, whose reports, he added, appeared to be an attempt to cause divisions between Umno and other component parties in BN.

However, Ng defended the two dailies, saying that they did not purposely cook up the report which saw print on Dec 3.

Musa's failure to apologise to Penang BN parties proves that Umno is "arrogant", stressed Ng, urging Penangites to deny the party and its "spineless" partners in the coming polls.

"This also proves that Umno intends to fully seize power in Penang so that its leaders can sweep away all the important positions in the state government," said Ng.

"This includes the position of the Penang Chief Minister which had remained all this while, Gerakan's political quota," he added.