PETALING JAYA: MCA leaders can withstand any test of their integrity, which is why party president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong says it welcomes any investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
He said this after certain quarters, particularly the Opposition, inferred that Barisan Nasional component party leaders should be pre-emptively investigated for graft as a result of coalition chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s opening speech at the MIC general assembly on Oct 10.
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“Any reasonably sane viewer of Ahmad Zahid's speech can clearly see that his naming of the Barisan leaders, including myself, was done in jest and more importantly, as an emphasis on the selective or political persecution that awaits Barisan should it (lose) the 15th General Election (GE15).
“It does not mean that the leaders mentioned in his speech were involved in graft of any kind.
"If there is any shred of corruption or graft within our ranks, the entire MCA leadership welcomes the MACC to conduct its investigations to the full extent of the law.
"But do not use such baseless accusations for election campaigning without any evidence,” he said in a statement on Facebook on Friday ( Oct 14).
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He added that in the run-up to GE15, talk, rumours and character assassination could be expected.
Dr Wee said certain people had chosen to spin Ahmad Zahid’s speech for political mileage, while noting that no MCA leader had been charged for corrupt practices, even after Barisan's defeat in GE14.
However, he pointed out that in September 2018, even before "the ink had dried" on GE14, former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng and his associate Phang Li Koon were freed from their corruption charges.
During Ahmad Zahid’s speech at the MIC general assembly, he warned other Barisan leaders that they could be selectively prosecuted, just like he and several others had been.
