Stop being Liew’s ‘human shield’, Dr Boo tells Teo

JOHOR BARU: The spat within DAP leaders in Johor continues with Dr Boo Cheng Hau telling Teo Nie Ching to stop protecting their state chairman Liew Chin Tong.

Dr Boo, who is the state party central committee member, thanked Teo for verifying that Liew sought nomination for senatorship under the Johor government’s quota.

“I would like to advise Teo not to be Liew’s human shield unless she was aware and agreed with what he did in that particular incident," said Boo.

“Liew as a respectable leader should be accountable for what he did and explained it personally to the Johor people and the party’s grassroots as to the reasons that he bypassed the party state committee in nominating himself as senator for Johor.

“He should personally clarify that he had no hidden agenda for doing so and no personal deals with Barisan Nasional and Perikatan National,” Dr Boo added in a statement on Friday (Dec 31).

Dr Boo, who is also the former Skudai assemblyman, refuted Teo’s claim that there would be snap state polls anytime soon.

He said as a seasoned politician, Teo should realise that undue pressure on the ruling government by the Opposition for any government-linked positions would trigger a snap state election for them to seek a bigger majority from the present slim majority.

Dr Boo alleged Liew’s act in getting himself nominated for the senator's post without the knowledge of the Johor DAP committee and state assemblymen could also trigger a snap state election.

“As the state DAP deputy chairman, Teo should not be a ‘yes lady’ for the chairman and should have advised him otherwise for not breaching the party’s democratic conventions including breaching the convention of seeking the state committee’s approval before nominating him for senatorship.

“I would like to maintain that the timeline for the events was before Aug 16, which is before Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s resignation as prime minister. All other details will be revealed when the Pakatan Harapan presidential council decides to call for a hearing,” he said.

Dr Boo added even though the party constitution states that the appointment of elections candidates and government positions were the central executive committee’s prerogative, the central leadership has always sought branches and state committees feedback on any such appointments and nominations.

He said the party’s long-standing democratic conventions has been that the central leadership always seeks grassroots and state committees’ feedback on such appointments and nominations.

“If what they claimed - that Liew’s proposal to be nominated as senator in a Barisan and Perikatan-run state government - is true, perhaps they could help explain the true reasons for the central candidature selection sub-committee for breaching such a long-standing party democratic convention without notifying the state committee,” he said.

Dr Boo reminded both Liew and Teo that power always comes with great responsibilities.

“As DAP leaders with great quality and commitment to party principles, they could take credit for the party’s success but must be prepared to shoulder the responsibility for losing ground without finding any scapegoat,” he said.

On Thursday (Dec 30), Dr Boo accused Liew of lobbying for senatorship from the state government by assuring the state Pakatan council he could get the support from the Johor government and other parties concerned to be appointed as a senator under the state quota.

Teo rubbished Dr Boo’s allegations against Liew, saying it was baseless.

She said it was regrettable that Dr Boo chose to use select facts to defame Liew and cast aspersions on the party former ministers and deputy ministers at a time when there is a real threat of a snap state election in Johor.