'Chinese are not beggars'
Hazlan ZakariaPublished: Apr 26, 2010 10:27 AM | Updated: Apr 27, 2010 2:18 AM
Malaysia's Chinese political and civil society leadership today hit out at Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali for urging the government to halt promised allocations to the Hulu Selangor Chinese community.
Malaysia's Chinese political and civil society leadership today hit out at Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali for urging the government to halt promised allocations to the Hulu Selangor Chinese community.
In a statement released to the media last night, Ibrahim (right) accused the Chinese community, in Hulu Selangor specifically, of being "ungrateful" for not supporting BN during the recent by-election.
During yesterday's voting, the voting channels of the Chinese dominated areas showed a marked increase of support for Pakatan Rakyat while votes for BN declined.
Ibrahim's statement has drawn strong criticism from Chinese politicians and civil society leaders.
As MCA youth deputy secretary Loh Chiew June pointed out, when contacted by Malaysiakini, the Chinese are not beggars.
He explained, "when you try to buy them at the last minute, telling them to vote for BN and they will get rewarded, some of them feel insulted.
"It is like treating them like beggars. The Chinese will be your long term friend if you be fair and treat them well. But, they will turn away from you if not.
"It is not that they don't like Najib, they adore Najib, but they do not support these few BN leaders who are ‘extremists' like Ibrahim Ali."
Sadly, he said, some of the BN leadership are emulating Ibrahim's racist stance.
"There are those who keep saying that Malays are first and the Chinese should be grateful," he added. This is not the way to win the Chinese over," he stressed.
‘Money does not belong to political parties'
Meanwhile, Dong Jiao Zhong committee member Chow Siew Hon stressed that the money used for the allocations belongs to the government and not to any political party.
"The money ultimately belongs to the rakyat. We are all entitled to it. Nobody can say that you cannot get the funds just because you don't support BN.
"The vote is your personal choice, whoever you want to support. I strongly disagree with that gentleman (Ibrahim)," said Chow.
MCA state assemblyperson for Kuala Kubu Baru Wong Koon Mun refused to comment on the issue of allocations but hit out at Ibrahim, saying that he is a "rotten apple" and a "party to the effort to topple BN."
‘Government should postpone allocations'
Yesterday, Ibrahim distributed via SMS, his reaction to the Hulu Selangor by-election to the media.
In his statement, Ibrahim urged the government to put on hold allocations promised to the Chinese community there "because it is clear that the Chinese and Indians did not support the BN. They do not appreciate what has been given by the BN government".
He added that the BN government should instead reward the Malays who had been proven loyal.
The BN government had promised a slew of development programmes and allocations for the Chinese in Hulu Selangor, in the run-up to yesterday's polls.
The most recent one was RM3 million promised by Najib (above) himself, for the development of a national type Chinese primary school in Rasa.
In a statement released to the media last night, Ibrahim (right) accused the Chinese community, in Hulu Selangor specifically, of being "ungrateful" for not supporting BN during the recent by-election.During yesterday's voting, the voting channels of the Chinese dominated areas showed a marked increase of support for Pakatan Rakyat while votes for BN declined.
Ibrahim's statement has drawn strong criticism from Chinese politicians and civil society leaders.
As MCA youth deputy secretary Loh Chiew June pointed out, when contacted by Malaysiakini, the Chinese are not beggars.
He explained, "when you try to buy them at the last minute, telling them to vote for BN and they will get rewarded, some of them feel insulted.
"It is like treating them like beggars. The Chinese will be your long term friend if you be fair and treat them well. But, they will turn away from you if not.
"It is not that they don't like Najib, they adore Najib, but they do not support these few BN leaders who are ‘extremists' like Ibrahim Ali."
Sadly, he said, some of the BN leadership are emulating Ibrahim's racist stance.
"There are those who keep saying that Malays are first and the Chinese should be grateful," he added. This is not the way to win the Chinese over," he stressed.
‘Money does not belong to political parties'
Meanwhile, Dong Jiao Zhong committee member Chow Siew Hon stressed that the money used for the allocations belongs to the government and not to any political party.
"The money ultimately belongs to the rakyat. We are all entitled to it. Nobody can say that you cannot get the funds just because you don't support BN.
"The vote is your personal choice, whoever you want to support. I strongly disagree with that gentleman (Ibrahim)," said Chow.
MCA state assemblyperson for Kuala Kubu Baru Wong Koon Mun refused to comment on the issue of allocations but hit out at Ibrahim, saying that he is a "rotten apple" and a "party to the effort to topple BN."
‘Government should postpone allocations'
Yesterday, Ibrahim distributed via SMS, his reaction to the Hulu Selangor by-election to the media.
In his statement, Ibrahim urged the government to put on hold allocations promised to the Chinese community there "because it is clear that the Chinese and Indians did not support the BN. They do not appreciate what has been given by the BN government".He added that the BN government should instead reward the Malays who had been proven loyal.
The BN government had promised a slew of development programmes and allocations for the Chinese in Hulu Selangor, in the run-up to yesterday's polls.
The most recent one was RM3 million promised by Najib (above) himself, for the development of a national type Chinese primary school in Rasa.
View Comments0