MCA: Fuss about Ghani shows DAP’s true colour

Gan Ping Sieu questions why DAP's cybertroopers have been attacking MCA over the reports that the Johor MB may contest in the Chinese-majority seat of Gelang Patah.

KUALA LUMPUR: MCA vice-president Gan Ping Sieu has questioned DAP’s criticism against his party for allowing Umno’s Abdul Ghani Othman to contest the Chinese-majority constituency of Gelang Patah in Johor.

He said the criticisms came despite DAP’s frequent claims of being non-racial.

Conveying this at a forum on the 13th general election last night, Gan said MCA has come under attack from DAP’s cybertroopers since news emerged that Ghani, the Johor menteri besar, might stand in the traditional MCA seat to square off with DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang.

Gelang Patah comprises 52% Chinese voters, 34% Malay and 12% Indian. MCA’s division chief there Jason Teoh was initially thought to be the BN candidate.

“After the news come out that Ghani wants to contest, (DAP) keeps attacking us, saying that we can’t even defend a Chinese seat. In other words, they don’t want Ghani to contest a Chinese seat.

“If MCA were to contest a Malay seat, then they will again accuse us of hiding behind Umno,” he said, adding that DAP practiced “double standard” with regard to its non-racial approach.

Gan said this in response to a question during the Q&A session in the forum themed “What Are The Key Issues That Determine The Outcome of 13th GE”.

He and Umno supreme council member Saifuddin Abdullah took on DAP political education director Liew Chin Tong and PAS central committee member Mujahid Yusof Rawa.

Liew said one major determining factor of the election would be whether PAS’ Malay supporters and DAP’s Chinese supporters would embrace each other.

“If that crossing happens, than it will be the end of BN,” he said.

“I think it may happen, because more and more Malays are accepting DAP and more and more non-Malays are accepting PAS. PAS will be fielding non-Malay candidates and DAP has announced some Malay candidates,” he said

Who copied who

During the Q&A session, the political rivals also accused each other of plagiarising their respective election manifestos, with Mujahid saying the title of BN’s manifesto “Menepati Janji Membawa Harapan” launched last Saturday was similar to Pakatan’s “Pakatan Harapan Rakyat”.

“We came out with the Buku Jingga (Pakatan common policies framework) in 2009. So if someone releases their manifesto with similar contents later, I call them a copycat,” he said.

Liew said the spirit of the Pakatan manifesto is to combat corruption and use the money saved to finance a series of programmes, which target the lower-income group.

“It’s clear that BN doesn’t know what to do, they have to copy. But by doing that, they need extra funds, so they have to introduce the goods and services tax (GST),” he said.

Gan then hit back saying that many policies such as economic and social welfare-related are common ideas available to all.

“You cannot claim monopoly in ideas. Please read our previous manifesto,” he said.

Saifuddin meanwhile did not pursue the debate of who copied who, saying that it was good for both sides to compete in coming out with better policies for the people.

“I don’t think we should go down that lane. The fact is both sides have become centrist in winning the GE. This is what new politics is all about. Rakyat should take this as a blessing,” he said.

Earlier when speaking on the main subject, Saifuddin said the key issues that would decide the outcome of the GE would be governance policies, economics and inclusiveness.