An Umno leader’s praise for DAP as being easier to work with “merely confirms that DAP has sold out”, says former DAP assemblyman P Ramasamy.
He said such praise meant DAP had strayed from its objectives after having long spoken on behalf of non-Malays, especially on hot-button issues.
Ramasamy, a former Penang deputy chief minister, was commenting on a remark by Pahang menteri besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail that DAP executive councillors were more supportive than MCA of state government initiatives, such as extending financial aid to civil servants.
“Wan Rosdy’s praise of DAP could mean that the party had taken a very obsequious role in comparison to the MCA, thus deserving of praise. This would also reaffirm that DAP has become another MCA”, he told FMT.
Ramasamy said that in politics, praise from a former enemy signified a radical shift in the nature and direction of a party’s political stance.
Wan Rosdy had praised DAP for not protesting when he said he wanted to give the state’s civil servants aid equivalent to two months’ salary.
Ramasamy said he found it strange that the two parties would want to embrace each other as DAP and Umno were “reluctant bedfellows” in the unity government, and had a non-existent relationship despite being part of the ruling coalition.
He pointed to the clashes the two parties had after the formation of the unity government, with the most recent controversy sparked by DAP’s Puchong MP Yeo Bee Yin, who had posted on social media that former prime minister Najib Razak‘s failed bid to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest was a cause for celebration.
Yeo’s refusal to apologise for her remarks led to Umno Youth holding a special conference in which its youth chief called for the party to withdraw from the government.
“These two parties are opportunistic,” Ramasamy said.
