Malaysian Insider Monday, April 5, 2010
Chua backs youth leader in Perkasa tiff
KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 — Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek has come out
in defence of an MCA Youth leader’s criticism of Perkasa and
refused to be pressured into sacking the latter.
The party president pointed out to The Malaysian Insider this
afternoon that, if anything, the MCA had its own method of
dealing with disciplinary problems involving its members and
would follow the due process when it was deemed fit.
He also defended Loh Chew June, the Youth wing’s deputy secretary-general,
and said that “on the surface”, the leader had not committed any wrong.
“You cannot simply call on a party to sack its member. We, in MCA,
have our own disciplinary committee to investigate these matters,”
he said.
Dr Chua added that Loh had a right to speak his mind on whatever
topic, as long as he did not breach the party’s code of conduct.
“However, on the surface, I do not think he has breached any code
of conduct,” he pointed out.
Loh, along with Penang Gerakan chief Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan, has been
at loggerheads with Malay rights group Perkasa when the duo criticised
the organisation, calling it “racist”.
Perkasa Youth chief Arman Azha Abu Hanifah took offence to the criticism
and called on both Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders to apologise within
48-hours from Friday or he would pressure Gerakan and MCA leaders to
sack them.
Arman’s demand has fallen on deaf ears, however, with both Loh and
Teng refusing to succumb to the threat, and today continued to
criticise Perkasa, claiming it was anti-1 Malaysia.
Loh also went further to tell Perkasa to apologise to Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Najib Razak, for failing to adhere to the premier’s ideals
of 1 Malaysia.
Taking note of this, Arman told The Malaysian Insider today that he
would hold another press conference tomorrow and proceed with his plan
to “exert pressure” on MCA and Gerakan to expel the two party leaders.
Meanwhile, Dr Chua said the MCA would soon hold a press conference and
issue its views on Perkasa, whose formation has caused a ripple in
the political scene in Malaysia.
Seen by some to be the conscience of Umno, with its main struggle
centred on protecting the rights of Malays, Perkasa has also been
deemed to be the thorn in Najib’s increasingly liberal administration.
The verbal sparring between Loh, Teng and Perkasa gave indications
that Najib would likely face strong opposition from the non-Malay
parties in the BN if he should side with the Malay rights group entirely.
“We will give our statement soon on what we feel about Perkasa.
For now, as far as the MCA is concerned, any party member can speak
their mind as long as, like I said, they stick to the party rules,”
said Dr Chua, before declining to say if the MCA was agreeable to
Perkasa’s ideologies.
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