YOURSAY | Wee, no need to hit below the belt

 

YOURSAY | ‘Why descend to the level of making personal attacks against Guan Eng?’

'Shameless' Guan Eng still thinks he's Penang CM, says Wee

Vijay47: Congratulations are surely in order, MCA president Wee Ka Siong, that you at least know the word “shame” even if its meaning escapes you.

One would have thought that so long have you laboured under the yoke of your political masters, languishing beneath their thumb, that “shame” was not within your experience nor vocabulary.

But, I digress. You seem offended that DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng is outraged over yet another betrayal by the government that you so proudly are subservient to - the cessation of a long-established inherent feature of Penang life, the faithful ferries plying the route between Butterworth and Weld Quay.

You claim that Guan Eng, to use a legal term gaining in popularity these days, has no locus standi to voice misgivings against the dark deeds by your friends abetted by you.

Yes, he is not the chief minister of Penang, which fortunately you are not either. But he is a resident of that Pearl Island, in fact of Malaysia too. That more than qualifies him and any citizen to speak up about shameful conduct by you and your lords, no?

When I last heard of you, you were the head of MCA. While I would agree with you that that is not a position to be flourished about with pride, I believe it does come with some expectations of serving the Chinese community, the non-Malays, and the nation’s population as a whole.

But you have been modestly quiet. I never heard a rat’s squeak from you as your friends ran havoc with the non-Muslim way of life. Would you not concede that such silence is greater cause for shame?

I am not sure whether your running with your crop of friends would permit you to accept this greeting, Wee, but a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Please pardon me if I don't send you a cake.

Appum: Wee, why are you only pointing your guns at Guan Eng? As a minister, your portfolio encompasses a wider range of functions. Why descend to the level of making personal attacks against Guan Eng?

First of all, Guan Eng, as a lawmaker in Penang, has a right to point out and criticise any wrong approaches in his state. Even as a past chief minister, he has locus standi.

Guan Eng criticised the ferry services termination with facts and reason but you attacked him personally instead. That, I feel, is hitting below the belt and only despicable opponents do that in any conflict.

Now the greater enemy you have is within your own house - the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government. What they do has greater negative ramifications to the Chinese community you claim to represent, such as abolishing allocation of funds to Chinese independent schools.

Why are you so quiet about such a big issue? You, MCA, always tell the Chinese that MCA will negotiate internally with the Malay power-holders in the government. Obviously, MCA has no power because the government has made that announcement already.

RedShark6167: Wee, why do you open your big mouth to try to belittle Guan Eng? You are being very irrational. He is a Penang MP, so of course, it is his duty to defend the interest of the Penang people.

Last time when you were under former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, you were as quiet as a mouse even though you would know there was a lot of 1MDB corruption going on.

Now under Muhyiddin Yassin’s backdoor government, you still try to act smart. You have lots to learn if you want to match former transport minister Anthony Loke’s professionalism.

Green Penang: A Penangite like me finds it quite miserable that Wee did not consult the Penang state government, let alone the people of Penang, before deciding to terminate the iconic ferry services.

Indeed, Loke made a far better transport minister.

Odysseus: Wee, this is hitting below the belt and trying to divert from the real issue. Firstly, did you fully explore options to bring the maintenance cost of the ferries down, like changing to a new engine?

The look of the ferry is cosmetic which costs very little to maintain. It's the engine. If you persist to keep an ageing engine, you are going to have difficulties in getting spares and it's costly as well. I thought you were trained as an engineer, no?

The Determinator: @Odysseus, the hulls of these ferries are still in seawater and it’s an intense working environment. If the option you outline is taken, which is replacing the engine, you’ll also have to completely strip out and rewire the electrical components as well.

The ferries were wearing out already and have reached the point where nothing more can be done. There are now also two very expensive bridges in existence which weren’t there in 1985 or 2005.

The car-carrying ferries go into the heritage area and the future of that part of Penang won’t be reliant on private petrol cars in the next decade.

Thesaint: Bring in the catamarans, water taxis, etc. But retain a few of the iconic ferries. It is as simple as that. I can’t believe ministers and MPs have so much time to argue over this when there is so much to do.

Enlightened Globalist: Indeed, Wee from the minnow party MCA should focus on bigger issues like the zero government allocation for Chinese schools.

Also, the cabotage issue with internet submarine cables which has irritated Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc.

My Words: Wee, stop attacking Guan Eng and start talking about the rights of the non-Malays under PN.

A ban on alcohol sales, temple demolitions, no non-Muslim greetings in shops, no money for non-Malay schools, successful agricultural lands taken from non-Malays in Raub and Cameron Highlands, no jobs for non-Malays in GLCs (government-linked companies), no tenders for non-Malay contractors, etc.

MCA and your other friends from MIC are the most useless leaders when it comes to helping the minorities in this country. Stop attacking Guan Eng just to please your masters.

Dummies Dhimmi: Apart from this ferry saga, the so-called transport minister had done nothing about potholes, the poor toll-collection system, the extremely ineffective roll-out of RFID lanes, and generally the worsening transport system. 

What has Wee done as transport minister? - Mkini