Former MCA vice-president Ti Lian Ker has rejected a claim by Umno leader Puad Zarkash that he wants the party to quit Barisan Nasional, saying he aims to “save BN”, not leave it.
Earlier today, Puad claimed in a Facebook post that MCA was split into two camps – one pushing for an immediate exit from BN, and the other hesitant – and accused Ti of favouring the former.
The Umno Supreme Council member made the claim after Ti warned that delays in deciding MCA’s future in BN risked alienating its grassroots members.
But, today, Ti said Puad had misrepresented him.
“My emphasis has always been on saving BN and its legacy. Puad still cannot grasp my point that we need to preserve its philosophy, methods, and political culture as a national institution and heritage,” he said in a Facebook post.
He said Puad failed to see that he wanted MCA leaders to voice grassroots sentiments at BN’s Supreme Council meetings, echoing a call made yesterday by BN deputy chairman Mohamad Hasan.
“That is why I have acted as a messenger, conveying sentiments from the grassroots to the leadership, so they can discuss and feed back their decisions, ensuring the grassroots know BN’s direction and are ready to fight as one under its platform,” he said.
As such, Ti denied belonging to what Puad called the “Leave BN cluster”.
“Rather, I carry the spirit of Hang Tuah in fighting the ‘BN traitors’ who want to replace BN with UMDAP (Umno-DAP),” he said.
