Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan has denied that his argument against DAP stalwarts Lim Kit Siang and his son Guan Eng being appointed as deputy prime minister smacks of racism.

“It is just that their leadership and thinking make them bad choices (for the post),” he explained in a Twitter posting this afternoon.

This is after Twitter users accused the BN strategic communications director of being a racist with regard to his criticism against Dr Mahathir Mohamad purportedly wanting to give the number two post to Kit Siang.

“Mahathir is willing to make Kit Siang deputy prime minister for the sake of power. What kind of madness is this,” he had tweeted.

Prior to that, he tweeted that Mahathir had claimed the influx of Chinese nationals in Johor could alter the Malaysian political landscape, but the former premier does not realise that appointing a DAP leader as deputy prime minister would change the political landscape as well.

Responding to a tweeter user who accused Abdul Rahman of being a racist by issuing a standard response as to why a “Chinese cannot be deputy prime minister”, the minister pointed out that he was referring to DAP, and not the Chinese community.

“I obviously don't want (PKR deputy president) Azmin Ali or (de facto opposition leader) Anwar Ibrahim to be PM. Now does that make me anti-Malay?

“I also don't want (PKR president Dr) Wan Azizah (Wan Ismail) to be PM. Does that mean I am anti- women and gender bias?” he asked.

On the contrary, he pointed out that it was Mahathir who had made remarks peppered with racism.

“Mahathir warned that the Malaysian political landscape (I take it as Malay political dominance) will change with 700,000 Chinese nationals becoming voters.

“Now, that clearly has racist undertone,” he said.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak also took a swipe at Mahathir over the matter, saying the former premier had a penchant for making 180-degree turns.

DAP has denied requesting for the deputy prime minister's post, whereas Mahathir's camp claim that the former premier was misquoted.