Perak DAP sorry over photo doormat
(NST) – Perak DAP yesterday apologised to all Malaysians offended by an incident on Sunday at its annual convention in Ipoh, where party bigwigs and members walked or stamped on a big doormat with pictures of Pakatan Rakyat’s three former elected representatives.
“We apologise to all Malaysians who were offended by the incident.
“We admit that we made a mistake,” its secretary Nga Kor Ming said at the Parliament lobby yesterday.
However, at the same time, Nga wants Barisan Nasional to also apologise to the people over an incident where its members stepped on pictures of Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon and burned pictures of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
In George Town on Monday, a poster of Lim was stepped on and burned during a demonstration by Penang BN Youth.
Nga said the action of the members reflected their feelings of dissatisfaction towards the three former PR assemblymen.
“We wish to state that this was an internal party meeting and our members wanted to express their disgust at the three for betraying their democratic principles, their constituencies and party by causing the downfall of the PR state government in Perak and supporting BN in the state.
“However, even though Perak DAP had the best intentions, to state our firm support for principled politics against the politics of corruption and unprincipled crossovers, we accept the views of the party leadership that the approach was inappropriate,” he said in a statement.
The three assemblyman are Hee Yit Foong (formerly from DAP) and Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu and Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (both formerly from Parti Keadilan Rakyat).
Nga said the party would ensure that similar incidents would not recur. He is the latest Perak DAP bigwig to offer his regret over the incident.
Last Monday, DAP Perak chairman Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham (DAP-Bruas) said he regretted the incident but stressed he would not apologise to the three assemblymen who left Pakatan Rakyat.
The DAP members’ antics at their convention also earned PKR’s displeasure.
On Tuesday, several PKR members of parliament had criticised DAP over the incident but at the same time, hit out at Umno over the burning of photographs of politicians.
The group’s spokesperson, Bayan Baru member of parliament Datuk Zahrain Mohd Hashim, said the action did not reflect Asian values.
