The DAP has hit out at Selangor MCA Beliawanis chief Jessie Ooi for claiming that assessment rates have risen under the Pakatan Rakyat administration.

Kampung Tunku assemblyperson Lau Weng San countered Ooi's claim that Selangor bumped up assessment rates after the 2008 general election, saying that it has not "raised a single sen".

"Some local councils have not revised their assessment rates for more than 10 years, an example being the Kajang Municipal Council, which never raised its assessment rate since 1985.

NONE "Ironically, some local councils like Petaling Jaya City Council had raised their assessment rates from 8 percent to 8.8 percent when BN (was in charge of the) Selangor government, despite fierce opposition from the rakyat," said Lau ( left ).

His outburst comes in the wake of Ooi's clarification that she had criticised Selangor's assessment rate hike, not Penang's.

Ooi caught public attention for the aggressive manner in which she posed a question to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng during his debate in Kuala Lumpur last Sunday with MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek.

"I am ‘half' a Penangite. You always talk about lightening the people's burden. But assessment rates are up. All prices are going up," Ooi had said in a fiery retort during the debate

Two days ago, Ooi admitted that she had made a mistake in claiming Penang had raised its assessment rates and said that her criticisms were targeted at Selangor.

"Actually I was referring to the Selangor Pakatan government's unfulfilled election promise that if they were elected they would lower the Selangor assessment rates during the 2008 election year... news reports saying that I was referring to the Penang's assessment rate is therefore incorrect," Ooi had said.

Produce evidence or apologise

kak tunda mca jessie ooi Demanding that Ooi ( right ) apologises for her misleading remarks, Lau said that her explanation still lacked accuracy.

"If indeed she was criticising Selangor - the Pakatan government failed to lower the assessment rate as promised - why, then, did she say that the assessment rate has ‘increased' instead of ‘not lowered'? Clearly ‘increased' and ‘not lowered' are two totally different and unrelated matters," he said.

He also lashed out at Ooi for blaming the blunder on media reports, insisting that she was quoted accurately.

"Just because she has expressed it wrongly, she should not have blamed everything on the media; instead, she should apologise to the public immediately," said Lau.

In fact, the Pakatan government lowered assessment rates for high rise apartments and condominiums by two percent in 2009, said Lau, urging Ooi to produce evidence to support her allegation.

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