MCA chief blasts Pak Lah for being Islamic

MCA president Chua Soi Lek has resorted to lambasting his former boss Abdullah Badawi, under whose leadership Chua was once forced to resign from the government following his sex scandal.

Amid latest survey results pointing to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's popularity compared to Najib Razak for the prime minister post, Chua set out to make a point by taking a dip at Pak Lah's educational background.

He said Pak Lah was educated in Islamic Studies and as such did not know about economics [sic].

"When Pak Lah led the country, every day he would talk about Islam Hadhari (progressive Islam) but never about the economy," he lamented. 'Islam Hadhari' is Pak Lah's prime ministerial slogan before it was replaced with Najib's '1Malaysia' battlecry soon after the latter took over in 2009.

Saying Anwar also comes from similar religious background, Chua, who has in the past invited condemnations for publicly berating Islamic values, Chua said Najib's rule was however different.

"They [Pak Lah and Anwar] don't know about the economy, they only talk about doa (prayers)," said the MCA chief as quoted by news portal Malaysiakini.

In 2008, announcing his resignation from all party and government posts weeks before the general election saw MCA losing most of the seats it contested, Chua said that his decision was in the context of Islam Hadhari.

"I am afraid if I continue to hold the positions in the government or the party, it would be a burden to the government and the party, especially in the context of Islam Hadhari and healthy political culture mooted by my party president (Ong Ka Ting)," the then MCA vice-president had told newsmen.

Yesterday, University of Malaya Centre for Democracy and Elections revealed that Anwar was the favourite for the post of prime minister ahead of Najib. The survey had interviewed some 1,407 respondents in Peninsular Malaysia between the day parliament was dissolved (April 3) and nomination day on April 20.

-Harakahdaily