“DAP Are Accepting Towards Corrupted Leaders, As Long As Everyone Lives Prosperously”

(Malaysian Digest) – Former DAP candidate for Bentong in the last general election, Wong Tack, believes the Pakatan Harapan prime ministerial candidate Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad stands a chance to win the hearts of the Chinese people there, and denied that the former premier was only popular among the rural Malays.

While Mahathir had to postpone his Feb 10 appearance in Bentong after being admitted to the National Heart Institute (IJN), Wong said the residents there were looking forward to meeting the former premier.

The Himpunan Hijau activist told FMT, “A lot of people think the Chinese are upset with Mahathir. That is not true. The Chinese are very practical, business-minded people. During Mahathir’s rule, there might have been a few people who were oppressed, but at the same time all the businesses were doing well.

“The Chinese have a proverb: ‘If the water is too clear, no fish can survive.’ They can accept some corruption as long as everyone lives prosperously together and those in power don’t steal it all.”

Was Wong openly declaring that DAP and the Chinese people are tolerant towards corrupted leaders and that DAP’s corrupt practices which involve stealing only a little is deemed acceptable?

Could this be the very explaination why DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, who is still embroiled over controversies surrounding the RM6.3 billion Penang undersea tunnel and three highway projects, is still acting as a scapegoat, so the people of Penang can live prosperously?

Meanwhile, in response to Wong who calls himself an environmental activist, Kua Kia Soong, former leader in the Civil Rights Movement of the Chinese associations further questioned his stance, “Does he not know that it was during Mahathir’s reign that some of the worst environmentally disastrous projects were executed?”

“He might want to consult “The Malaysian Civil Rights Movement”, published by SIRD in 2005,” he wrote in FMT.

Kua who has written many books concerning the Chinese community’s revulsion against Mahathir’s implementation of the New Economic Policy, and his education and cultural policies also highlighted Mahathir’s “several monstrous economic projects and privatisation policies” that affected indigenous people and other marginalised communities.

“In most of these cases, compensation was hardly adequate but, most significantly, scant regard was paid to the victims’ living conditions and environment around them,” citing, the Papan and Bukit Merah waste dumps, Bakun Dam, the Selangor dam, the destruction of the plantation communities, the deforestation in Sarawak and Sabah, among other disastrous projects.

The adviser to NGO Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) proceeded to say, “Instead of soiling his reputation as a green warrior by showing off Mahathir, the Father of Environmentally Disastrous Projects, Wong should invite all the victims of environmentally-disastrous projects to Bentong so that the voters will know that Wong is indeed concerned about sustainable development and the victims of disastrous projects.”