Umno man wants 'racist' MCA punished for defending Kuok

Umno's Tengku Putra Haron Aminurrashid Tengku Hamid Jumat is less than pleased at MCA's defence of tycoon Robert Kuok at the expense of Umno.

Having observed MCA's conduct, the Kempas assemblyperson from Johor has suggested that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak not be so generous with MCA after the next general election.

"I hope the good prime minister will take cognisance of this and ensure that no cabinet posts are again wasted on them if they further fail to retain their seats, which by the way were won on the backs of Malay voters," he said in a statement.

Tengku Putra Haron said he believed that the allegations against Kuok would not have been made without concrete evidence, and that the billionaire could seek legal remedy if they were untrue.

Kuok was alleged to have funded DAP and news portal The Malaysian Insight in the bid to oust Umno from power. Tengku Putra Haron also said some contents of the 94-year-old billionaire's recent memoir had not gone down well with Umno politicians.

According to Tengku Putra Haron, the Kuok saga had shed new light on Umno's ally.

"One thing good has come out of this on the brink of the general election. We finally get to see who is the wolf in the sheepskin among the herd of the BN coalition.

"No one is untouchable in Malaysia, and if MCA makes a fuss over the attacks on Kuok not because of its offensiveness to Malaysians but just because he is a Chinese tycoon, then we are witnessing the racist antics of this party," he said.

Tengku Putra Haron also picked out statements made by MCA leaders, including the party's religious harmony bureau chief Ti Lian Ker without naming him.

"An MCA spokesperson said that 'Robert Kuok as a businessman has every right to support whichever political party he deems fit.'

"Conversely, politicians, too, have every right to curse the money that supports their opponents," said Tengku Putra Haron.

'Start contributing'

He also zoomed in on the statement of MCA secretary-general On Ka Chuan who asked DAP to train its guns on Umno and blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin if it was not happy about the attacks against Kuok.

"This shows their readiness to be subservient to the chauvinist opposition party while breaking rank with the ruling coalition," he said.

Umno leaders had ripped into Kuok after Raja Petra alleged the billionaire was funding the DAP. Kuok denied the claim and said he reserved the right to take legal action against Raja Petra.

MCA leaders had said the attacks against Kuok would not bode well for race relations and could be seen as an attack on the Chinese community.

However, Tengku Putra Haron said the Chinese community's low level of support for BN had more to do with MCA.

"MCA doesn’t have to worry about statements made by Umno leaders that might hurt the feelings of the Chinese and affect BN’s performance in the coming elections.

"Instead, they might do better by getting off their backsides and start contributing to the preparations of the BN machinery.

"In Johor, MCA was the only party that didn’t submit their numbers from their groundwork to the state BN for analysis. Instead, they kept on giving positive percentages plucked from the sky without justification," the Umno leader claimed.- Mkini