Stop your 'bullying', Gerakan tells Mukhriz

Gerakan has returned fire at the criticism levelled against the party by Kedah Menteri Besar Mukhriz Mahathir, stating it will not “stand for bullying” or “vindictive politics”.

Gerakan secretary-general Mah Siew Keong (right), who also trained his guns on Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson Nur Jazlan Mohamed for the latter’s negative remarks concerning the party yesterday, said it was “unfortunate” the two leaders chose to attack Gerakan over the “principled stand” it has taken.

“Certain UMNO leaders have been constantly bullying its coalition partners in BN and concomitant to that is the loss of support amongst Malaysians as Gerakan and even MCA are seen as weak and supine.

“In 1999, when the Malays voted against BN because of the Anwar Ibrahim factor, Umno did not relentlessly attack the Malay community, in fact they sought to understand the concerns of the Malay community and studied the loss of support and made amends,” he said.

He questioned why the same treatment is not accorded to the Malaysian Indian and Chinese communities, following the results of the recent general election.

Gerakan, he said, will not stand for any attempt to bully any Malaysian community and will continue to speak up against what he deemed as “vindictive politics”.

“Mukhriz and Nur Jazlan are playing to the gallery because they want to prevail in the Umno election but at what cost to the nation? They must understand if they continue to thrive in the fault lines of politics, they will be doing a great disservice to BN which has prided itself on keeping us united for the past 56 years,” Mah said.

Gerakan to assist BN for Sg Limau

The Umno vice-president hopeful, Mukhriz, had yesterday remarked that Gerakan and MCA were “more  racist that DAP”, after the two BN component parties criticised his statement that he will not help Chinese schools in Kedah, but rather will priorities the Malay community and BN supporters.

Meanwhile Nur Jazlan (right), who is running for a post in the Umno supreme council, has told The Malay Mail Onlinethat Gerakan must “prove themselves” before demanding a bigger role in BN, adding that it was the party's own in-fighting that had caused Chinese support for BN to wane.

Also in a statement, Kedah Gerakan chairperon Dr Cheah Soon Hai said Mukhriz’s accusation the party was racist was “groundless”.

However, instead of boycotting the upcoming Sungai Limau by-election, as called for by opposition’s Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, Cheah said Gerakan will take the opportunity to explain to the people regarding Muhkriz’s statement during that time.

“Since Chinese schools have received allocations prior to the 505 (May 5) election, therefore it is now time to hand out assistance to the national schools. I believe that it is his (Mukhriz’s) way of expressing that (which) caused all these misunderstandings.

“Although Gerakan does not agree with his statement, we will continue working under the BN framework to assist in the coming by-election.” Cheah stressed.