Make a stand on Manoharan's tweets, DAP urged
The DAP has been urged to make a stand on the party’s Kota Alam Shah assemblyperson M Manoharan over his tweets on national badminton star Lee Chong Wei’s failure to obtain a gold medal at the Olympics on Sunday.
The DAP has been urged to make a stand on the party’s Kota Alam Shah assemblyperson M Manoharan over his tweets on national badminton star Lee Chong Wei’s failure to obtain a gold medal at the Olympics on Sunday.
Lee played forcefully against China’s badminton ace Lin Dan in London and lost in a close fight, disappointing his fans in Malaysia who, despite their different ethnic and political affiliations, rallied behind him.
Penang BN chief Teng Chang Yeow (
right
) accused Manoharan of “insulting” Lee, whom he described as a hero for all Malaysians.
Lee, said Chang Yeow, is a “heroic icon” at the local and international level and Manoharan had belittled his Olympics silver medal accomplishment.
“Manoharan is not qualified to be wakil rakyat with his attitude. The DAP must make a stand on his insulting statements. He even changed Lee’s name to be Lee Chong Away,” said Chang Yeow during a press conference last night.
“If you do not respect someone, please do not change his name. That is the minimum respect required towards another person,” he added.
“The DAP should state their stand whether they agree or not with Manoharan’s statement.”
‘DAP’s double-faced leaders’
Manoharan, who received an avalanche of criticisms for his personal tweets , denied that he had intended to insult or degrade anybody and it was merely for the betterment of the sport.
Manoharan also denied that he had made a racist remark, saying he did not condemn Lee as “We all know he did his best, but I maintain that Lin Dan was the better player”.
He had blamed the government for “not fighting hard enough” to include sports like squash and sepak takraw into the Olympic Games, leading to a drought in gold medals.
He was accused of politicising sports when he tweeted that Pakatan Rakyat can do a better job in managing sports in the country.
Chang Yeow said it was sad that Manoharan had found it fit to insult Lee, and that the DAP had shown how “double-faced” their leaders were.
“On one hand, they will show their support for Lee if they could gain publicity or get credit out of Lee, but on the other hand, they will express what is truly in their hearts in their hearts - that they do not truly support him,” he said.
“They are just using him as political material, they even politicise sports,” added Chang Yeow.
“Lee did his best, he put in a lot of effort, he had fighting spirit and good sportsmanship although luck is not on his side. That is why we rally behind him,” he stressed.
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