Dr Wee: It’s just politics and should not be twisted around
PETALING JAYA: Rejecting DAP is not racism, it is politics, says MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.
“DAP is not a race but a political party. If rejecting DAP is racism, then what do we call DAP rejecting MCA, Umno, PAS, MIC or Bersatu all these years?” he asked.
Dr Wee said this after a political commentator accused caretaker Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi of being racist for declaring he would rather quit his position than work with DAP.
He said that the commentator, Tajuddin Rasdi, was misguided.
“Let us also look at the recent Sabah state election. DAP lost all eight seats it contested, including in urban areas with sizable Chinese voters.
“Are we now going to say the Chinese voters in Sabah were being racist against DAP too? Of course not.
“They made a political choice. Just as Johoreans also have the right to make their own political choice,” he said in a Facebook post.
Dr Wee described Onn Hafiz as among the least racist leaders he had ever met and worked with throughout his political career.
Onn Hafiz does not see Johoreans through a narrow racial lens and genuinely sees all Johoreans as one people, one family, and one Bangsa Johor, he added.
“In fact, among the Johor exco members he often refers to and gives important responsibilities are two MCA representatives in the state government.
“They are Lee Ting Han, who handles the important portfolio of investment, trade, consumer affairs and human resources, and Ling Tian Soon who handles health and environment.
“These are not small portfolios but important responsibilities involving Johor’s economy, jobs, investment, public health, environmental protection and the well-being of the people.
“To accuse Onn Hafiz of racism simply because Johor Barisan Nasional wants to contest on its own is unfair, irresponsible and politically dishonest,” he said.
Dr Wee said the state Barisan’s choice to move solo was not an act of racism but a political decision by a state coalition with its own mandate, record and responsibility to the people of Johor.
“Johor is not Putrajaya. A federal arrangement after GE15 cannot be blindly forced onto a state election.
“If DAP can reject others and call it a political strategy, then Johor Barisan also has the same right to decide its own path.
“Do not turn every political rejection into a racial accusation. That is not mature politics,” said Dr Wee.
Tajuddin in a social media post claimed that Onn Hafiz displayed a racist attitude for saying he would rather not become Mentri Besar than work with DAP if given the mandate to form a state government after the next election.
