Barisan must discipline leaders who talk like ‘clowns’, says Gerakan Youth

Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang wants Barisan Nasional to discipline its leaders who make comments that can hurt the coalition. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Ahmad Muslim, October 17, 2015.Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders who make embarrassing and hurtful remarks should be disciplined by a coalition-level board to ensure members of component parties under the ruling government do not tarnish its image, Gerakan Youth said today.

The wing chief Tan Keng Liang said BN should have a disciplinary board to deal with such instances by "clowns" – BN leaders who make controversial remarks that cause public outcry and later attempt to deny their statements or claim they were misquoted.

Having a disciplinary mechanism would make them more careful with their public statements, Tan said when speaking at Gerakan Youth's annual national delegates conference in Shah Alam today.

"In this era of social media, the statements by BN leaders can go viral, with proof such as video recordings. Whatever they say can have a huge impact in just a short time.

"They should not speak and after that, try to deny it.

"In the end, those who want to be heroes end up becoming clowns. And BN becomes the victim," Tan said.

One of these instances involved deputy agriculture and agro-based industries minister Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman, who threatened to "slap" Chinese Malaysians who complained about the country.

His remarks had been in response to China's ambassador Dr Huang Huikang who had visited Petaling Street (Chinatown) in Kuala Lumpur last month and said that Beijing condemned all forms of discrimination and extremism based on race.

The ambassador's remarks, made before a planned rally by Malay protesters against the Chinese-dominated popular tourist destination, was seen by many as tantamount to interference in Malaysia's domestic affairs.

Tan today said that a disciplinary board at the BN level would be able to address such remarks, whether they were made by ministers or deputy ministers.

"In fact, people holding high positions should be showing good examples to the grassroots leaders, and not the other way around," the Gerakan Youth chief said.

Tajuddin had initially blamed the media for misquoting him but after the audio recording of his remarks at a press conference was uploaded on to the Internet, said he had merely been joking.

- TMI