‘DAP should suspend Guan Eng’

B Nantha Kumar

Why is DAP going easy on secretary-general Lim Guan Eng when it suspended Kota Alam Shah assemblyman M. Manogaran over a remark on the national flag?

KUALA LUMPUR: MIC Youth today slammed DAP for its ‘double standards’ after it failed to take action against it’s secretary-general Lim Guan Eng over the controversial Johor statement the latter had allegedly made.

The Youth wing’s information chief S Subramaniam accused DAP of practicing racism after the party refused to take action against Lim, who is also Penang chief minister for his allegedly disparaging remarks against Johor.

On Aug 12, Bernama reported that Lim had maligned Johor during his speech at a luncheon organised by the Foreign Correspondents Association of Singapore.

According to the national news agency, the Penang chief minister had highlighted the falling crime rate in Penang and implied that Johor’s public security situation was questionable.

Lim has denied making this statement.

However, on Sep 30, after being censored by the Sultan of Johor, Lim issued an apology to the Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar over the controversy.

Citing the incident, Subramaniam questioned DAP’s policy on ‘transparency’.

“We want to know what is DAP central council members’ stand over it’s secretary-general’s statement. It is unethical of Lim as a Malaysian citizen and more importantly as a Chief Minister of Penang to issue such a statement,” he said.

Recalling the situation with Kota Alam Shah assemblyman, he said M Manogaran was suspended from party for six months for disparaging the Jalur Gemilang (Malaysian Flag).

Is DAP racist?

This was despite the fact that Manogaran had apologized for his statement.

“Is Lim Guan Eng is special just because he was a Chinese?” Subramaniam asked.

“Lim should take full responsibility over his statement and should be suspended.

“There should not be double standards in the party in making decisions or taking actions against an individual in the party.

“Lim as a chief minister of Penang, in the first place shouldn’t belittle a state in his own country,” he said.

He added that if DAP failed to act against Lim, then it was a clear cut case of DAP being a race-based party which upheld only the Chinese interests.

Yesterday, DAP chairman Karpal Singh rejected claims that the party practised double standards in dishing out punishment on members’ misconduct.

He said Lim was not subjected to any internal disciplinary action because there had been no evidence yet to prove he had uttered such disparaging remarks against Johor.

He insisted that even top party leaders, including Lim, would be subjected to disciplinary action if he was found guilty of any wrongdoings.