DAP's Sungai Pelek assemblyperson Ronnie Liu brushed off criticisms by party colleagues Tony Pua and Hannah Yeoh of his comments in a speech yesterday, saying that the reactions revealed a personal prejudice against him.
The DAP central committee member said the two MPs had misinterpreted what he said at DAP veteran Liew Ah Kim's book launch in Klang on Sunday.
"My original speech was in Mandarin. Yeoh and Pua added their own misinterpretations and prejudices against me and started to bash me," claimed Liu, without elaborating on the precise nature of the misinterpretations.
Liu was reported to have said that the party should not belittle or degrade itself just to gain Malay support.
"DAP is a multi-racial party. The party need not dilute its Chineseness just because of the criticism from our political enemies.
"We have to safeguard the culture of the party, as well as the party's constitutional spirit, pluralistic and democratic political struggle," he said in the speech.
These remarks drew the ire of Pua and Yeoh, with Pua saying that Liu was a "Chinese chauvinist the party doesn't need".
The Damansara MP viewed Liu's speech as counterproductive to DAP's philosophy, taking exception to Liu's call for the party to stick to its overt "Chineseness" while continuing to call itself a "multi-racial party... for all Malaysians".
Segambut MP Yeoh called Liu's views "toxic and narrow-minded", adding that Liu does not represent her and that "the DAP that Ronnie desires is not the DAP that I joined".
Liu told Malaysiakini that to portray him as a Chinese chauvinist was simply unfair.
"To me, DAP is multi-racial, but the solution towards increasing our appeal to other races does not mean to reduce our Chineseness, but to increase our Malayness and our Indian-ness, Iban-ness or Kadazan-ness.
"We have to increase Malay elements, but not at the expense of our Chinese elements," he said.
Saying that he has always been happy to work with all communities, Liu called attention to a poster of him wearing baju Melayu and issuing Ramadan greetings.
"I have been wearing Malay costume since Form Six. I stayed and studied in a hostel where Malay students were the majority," he recalled of his time at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Mahmud in Raub, Pahang.
DAP is preparing for its national congress and the central executive committee (CEC) election in June. - Mkini
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