DAP’s Anthony Loke proposes ban on “sexy performers”
(The Star) – The DAP has proposed banning “sexy singers” from all its party functions but this has earned it a rebuke from MCA, which says the former is bowing to Islamist party PAS, its partner in Pakatan Rakyat.
DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke has proposed the ban, saying he would raise the matter at the next central executive committee meeting.
“When people come to our party functions, they come to listen to political speeches, not for indecent entertainment,” he said.
He said guidelines should be drawn up and distributed to all party branches to prevent performers from dressing inappropriately.
The proposal came following a controversy in Telemong, Bentong last month when a performance was halted abruptly after “complaints” that the singer was dressed “too sexily”.
The villagers who attended the event were upset over the cancellation, saying it was a slap in the face for the Chinese community as the DAP had bowed to pressure from PAS leaders.
MCA central committee member Datuk Ti Lian Ker slammed Loke’s proposal saying it amounted to the DAP endorsing the policies of PAS as well as supporting the Islamist party’s interpretation of decent dressing for non-Muslims.
He said sleeveless shirts and shorts were deemed inappropriate by PAS, questioning whether the DAP and PAS were now becoming “moral and fashion policemen”.
Recently, MCA leaders have slammed Loke for being a PAS apologist in view of his constant defence of the Islamist party’s policies.
They said he had “betrayed” non-Muslim voters when he concurred with PAS that gender segregation was all right at PAS events.
Yesterday, Loke, maintained that his proposal had nothing to do with pressure from PAS, and that no PAS leaders were present when the performance in Bentong was called off.
Last week, Bentong Dapsy chairman Chow Yu Hui was challenged by 15 village chiefs to slice off the head of a cockerel to prove that he did not cancel the performance.
Chow, however, did not turn up as he said there was “no point” in prolonging the issue. The act of cutting a cockerel’s head at a temple is a Chinese tradition to prove one’s innocence.