Guan Eng sidesteps blows from Ali Tinju's memo

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has dodged body blows that Umno-linked Red Shirts Movement leader Mohd Ali Baharom, popularly known as Ali Tinju, had tried to rain upon the socialist democratic party over alleged comments by Chinese netizens against Islam.

"Unfortunately, Ali Tinju must have been confused because DAP has nothing to do with the individuals concerned, nor do we condone any kind of inflammatory remark, be it racial or religious," Lim said in a statement today.

The Bagan MP was referring to yesterday's incident when a group of 30 red shirts and allied pro-ruling party groups led by Ali Tinju gathered at the DAP headquarters in Kuala Lumpur to submit a memorandum demanding that DAP takes responsibility for comments by Chinese netizens which allegedly disparaged Islam.

The comments were supposedly made by Chinese netizens in relation to the Jalan Pinhorn bungalow row involving Lim, and Ali Tinju wanted the Penang CM to monitor the Chinese netizens allegedly involved.

Lim threw his own blows at Ali Tinju hitting out that the latter should have sent the memorandum to Umno instead.

It is the Malay party which is more prone to raise racial and religious sentiments, jabbed Lim, adding that DAP does not practice such methods and it is a multiracial party as opposed to the mono-racial Umno.

What’s worse, Lim pointed out was that Ali Tinju refused to hand over the memorandum to DAP Selangor committee member and Selayang municipal councillor Edry Faisal Eddy Yusof, on the pretext of his race, insisting that a Chinese must accept the memorandum instead.

Conveying DAP's regrets, he claimed that "the mob became unruly and made threats to burn the building", and that such a brazen threat to the safety and security of the party's staff and property took place, not to mention what he said is a "racial insult" against Edry.

"DAP hopes that the police will not take such violent threats lightly and take immediate action considering the fact that there were reportedly 20 police officers on the scene, as well as video evidence of the incident.

"Failure to do so would show that those supporting BN and Umno can act without any respect for the law," he said.

Lim added that a police report was lodged this morning by party staffers.

Police have said that they are investigating Ali Tinju and the red shirts as well as others who accompanied them over the matter. -Mkini