Dr M shifting blame to MCA after slip of tongue, sec-gen says
(MMO) – Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan has accused Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today of trying to shift blame to MCA after allegedly implicating DAP on the issue of requesting the deputy prime minister post.
The MCA secretary-general said Dr Mahathir has had a slip of tongue by revealing DAP’s so-called request, even when the former prime minister has denied making such a remark, claiming he was misquoted by the press.
“Dr Mahathir claims that it was MCA who raised the issue of wanting the post of Deputy Prime Minister. The truth of the matter is that it was he, who in the first place, had a slip of the tongue by revealing that DAP had attempted to fight for the post of DPM.
“However, since then there have been disagreements within their coalition, and Dr Mahathir now attempts to push the blame onto MCA to relieve him of the predicament he had placed himself in,” Ong said in a brief statement to Malay Mail Online.
DAP has last week said its parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang had never asked to be made deputy prime minister if Pakatan Harapan and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia win the next general election.
Ong said MCA has never raised the issue ever since Datuk Seri Najib Razak took over as prime minister.
“MCA is not oblivious to the precarious position that it is in right now in the political sphere. As such, the current focus is on nation building and how to win back the support of the people to BN, in particular the Chinese community,” he said, referring to the Barisan Nasional.
“With that being the present focus, the issue regarding the Deputy Prime Minister post was never put forward by MCA leadership to the Prime Minister, either in private or through any formal meetings.”
Last week, Dr Mahathir revealed that MCA had requested for a deputy prime minister post in April 2009, amid rumours that DAP is asking the same from the Opposition.
Dr Mahathir said MCA deputy secretary-general Datuk Loke Yuen Yow had then asked Najib for a second deputy prime minister post for the party president then, in addition to the Barisan Nasional deputy chairman post.
In his blog post, Dr Mahathir had linked to a report by the Malaysian Information Department in April 2009 on the proposal by MCA.
The report has since been deleted from the Malaysian Information Department website, although its address still remains.
Najib was reported saying by state news agency Bernama yesterday that throughout his tenure as the country’s leader, never once did the BN component party asked for such a thing.
Najib took over as prime minister on April 9, 2009 to succeed Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
