Gerakan refutes claim lion dancer 'refused' to perform at CNY open house

 PETALING JAYA: Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang has refuted claims on social media that a lion dance "refused" to perform before the prime minister and his wife at the party's Chinese New Year Open House.

"The lion dancer was actually peeling a pomelo and a few oranges for the prime minister...it takes time to do this.

"None of the performers are superman. I doubt anyone could have peeled a pomelo and a few oranges in less than 30 seconds (with or without the lion's head)," Tan said on his Facebook on Tuesday.

A 45-second video clip, which has gone viral on social media, showed the lion dancer crouching motionless for several seconds, watched by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Gerakan president Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong, and other VIPs during the open house held at Menara PGRM on Saturday.

Tan said it was a Chinese New Year tradition that the lion dance performer present a pomelo and oranges to the special guest as a sign of prosperity.

"It is unfortunate that some irresponsible people chose to twist and fabricate lies towards the professional lion dancers, who had given a great performance," he said, adding that Najib had even praised the performance on his Facebook account.

Tan claimed that those who were pro-opposition who could not understand the Chinese tradition during the lion dance performance should not "try to tarnish and insult the tradition".

On Facebook, Najib had said he was impressed by the lion dance performance at the Gerakan open house.

"The lion dance is synonymous with Chinese New Year and signifies a new beginning and is believed to bring good luck," Najib wrote.

Mah's political secretary, Ivanpal Singh Grewal, echoed Tan's sentiments, saying the lion dancer was actually peeling seven mandarin oranges and a pomelo.

He said it was completely untrue that the "lion" refused to dance, adding that the "lion" had earlier gone through a long performance which was not shown in the 45-second clip that had gone viral.

He added the whole performance was nearly 10 minutes long. The lion dance had escorted Najib to the lift and then to the main hall where the performance took place.

Ivanpal also slammed the person who took the video and said the person has to explain as the video had been "very dishonest in a way which it was done".