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The party’s secretary-general Loke Siew Fook said that he was disappointed with Mahathir for making racially-charged statements that are unbecoming of a former prime minister and a statesman.
Mahathir recently claimed that Malays were no longer dominating the national politics and economy and that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is incapable of protecting the community’s interests.
“If he loves this country, he should be using his influence to help attract foreign investors, not raising racial sentiments,” he said in a press conference after inaugurating the Penang DAP convention here.
“We hope that he will play a constructive role instead of making statements that are not helpful and stir up racial animosity that is detrimental to the well-being of the country,” the transport minister added.
Loke, who also served as transport minister in the Mahathir-led Pakatan Harapan (PH) government from May 2018 to March 2022, said he should not have resorted to attacking the unity government along racial lines, since his government then had also faced similar attacks from opposition parties.
“That is why I am disappointed that he has resorted to using such sentiments now,” he added.
On a separate matter, Loke said the ongoing seat distribution talks between PH and Barisan Nasional (BN) will not exclude MCA and MIC.
“Our cooperation within the unity government is coalition-to-coalition, which is PH to BN. It is not with any individual political party.
“We expect each component party of the coalition to have its representative in any negotiation,” he added.
Penang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Kelantan, Kedah and Terengganu will be having their state elections within the next four months.
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