Guan Eng under fire over alleged inflammatory remarks

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GEORGE TOWN: Penang Gerakan Youth has slammed Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for his remarks on the current MCA crisis, saying that he was adding “fire” to a volatile political situation.

Its vice-chairman, Tan Kah Leong, said it was unbecoming of Lim to talk bad about another party’s affairs at a public function.

“In fact, Lim should not attempt to divide the people and belittle MCA in front of a mixed audience,” he said in a statement, adding that Lim should also not interfere in the internal affairs of another party.

Tan urged Lim to focus his efforts in leading Penang out of the economic downturn and attract more foreign investors to the state.

He said Lim could talk about politics at his own party function.

Tan was commenting on a speech given by Lim at a dinner held in conjunction with the Hungry Ghost Festival at Taman Dedap in Butter-worth on Sunday.

It was reported that Bagan MCA division Youth chief David Chua had rushed to the table, where Lim was seated after delivering a 10-minute speech, to seek an explanation for allegedly bad-mouthing MCA and its president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat.

Tan said he sympathised with MCA members present at the function.

“Lim’s unreasonable comments on MCA will naturally draw resentment in a public gathering, where members from various political parties were present. Lim is clever at rubbing salt on people’s wounds,” he said.

In Butterworth, Bagan MCA deputy chief Sum Yoo Keong said the Chief Minister should not have touched on MCA’s current problems.

“We can accept criticism but this is not the right forum to talk about politics,” he said during a welfare aid presentation at the division’s office yesterday.

Residents Association chairman Tan Swee Hoe, who had delivered a welcoming speech at the dinner function, said it was not right for Lim to talk about MCA’s internal affairs.

“I gestured to him (Lim) to control his speech when he spoke about MCA but he still went ahead with it,” he said.

State executive councillor Lim Hock Seng, who was also present, denied that the Chief Minister had bad-mouthed MCA or Ong during the dinner.

He said Lim merely corrected the words used on a banner, believed to have been strung up by disgruntled MCA members, adding that a Chinese daily had carried photographs of it.