Shamsher said he was not surprised by the Lims’ absence
Shamsher Singh Thind says the Penang CM should stop imposing unnecessary conditions to debate MCA’s Wee Ka Siong on the undersea tunnel project.
(FMT) – Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng should not have stayed away from a forum yesterday to discuss the undersea tunnel project, said a former DAP member.
Instead, Shamsher Singh Thind said Lim should have emulated Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s style of taking his critics head-on.
“Just the other day, opposition leaders were raving about how brave Mahathir was when he turned up at the ‘Is Tun M Too Old To Be PM?’ forum,” said Shamsher, referring to a forum organised by Malay daily Sinar Harian.
Lim and his father, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang, were invited to the forum in Bagan, which also featured MCA deputy president Wee Ka Siong and Barisan Nasional (BN) spokesman Eric See-To, both vocal critics of the project.
Shamsher said he was not surprised by the Lims’ absence, but added that they had missed a golden opportunity to answer their critics.
“Mahathir, who is 93 years old, is brave enough to grab the bull by the horns and face his critics head-on.
“He showed his bravery. Guan Eng didn’t, which is sad, as he would have more information on the tunnel project than Wee or See-To,” he said.
Shamsher also hit out at Guan Eng for imposing conditions to debate Wee.
The DAP secretary-general had earlier said he would only engage Wee if the MCA leader decided to contest in Bagan.
But Shamsher said Guan Eng was playing “tai-chi” (pass the buck) on the tunnel controversy.
He said other DAP state leaders like Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy and executive councillor Chow Kon Yeow had not backed down from debating with their opponents.
“If anyone challenged Ramasamy, he would respond. He is not one to back down from a challenge,” said Shamsher.
The 7.2-km long infrastructure project linking Gurney Drive on Penang island to Bagan Ajam in Seberang Perai has come under renewed scrutiny from BN leaders, following a fresh probe by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in January.
