MCA today expressed its disappointment with a remark made by the Kelantan Crown Prince Tengku Faris Petra that non-Malays should not seek equality or special treatment.

ong ka ting interview 140408 06 MCA president Ong Ka Ting said that statements of such a nature would destroy the unity and harmony between the various races in the country. He added that it will also not benefit the multi-racial society.

"For the past 50 years, the various races have worked hard together to attain the goals of nation building, for which they have also contributed vastly to the country's development.

“As such, they too have equal rights as enshrined in constitution," said the leader of the second biggest partner in the ruling BN coalition.

He said that while the federal constitution afforded special status for the Malays, the same document also disallowed the deprivation of rights and privileges of the others.

"The statement by Tengku Faris is inconsistent with the BN's stand on racial unity which stands for fair and equal partnership," added Ong in a statement.

On Saturday, Tengku Faris while delivering a keynote speech at a forum titled “Malay unity is the core of national unity”, said that as the Malays had agreed in granting non-Malays citizenship, the latter should therefore not seek equality or special treatment.

Say no to PAS

On another matter, Ong also rejected Islamic party PAS’ aims of setting up an Islamic state.

He said that MCA will not accept an Islamic state as it is contrary to the federal constitution.

"All levels of leaders from PAS including, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, Kelantan deputy menteri besar Ahmad Yaakup, Kelantan PAS Youth Mohd Zaki Ibrahim and PAS deputy spiritual leader Dr Haron Din have made assertions that they want to create an Islamic state.

“This indicates that PAS' ambitious goals have been revealed. There is no doubt that they intend to establish an Islamic state for Malaysia," added Ong.

The former housing and local government minister said that all political parties should stand together to stop PAS from establishing an Islamic state.

“Any organisation or party that co-operates with PAS will only help PAS to work towards its agenda of forming an Islamic state," he said.

"These parties should re-evaluate their relationship with PAS as it is already creating a lot of uneasiness among the people."

MCA fared badly in the March 8 general election, being rejected by the Chinese voters over its failure to stand up for matters affecting the community.

In the aftermath of the humiliating defeat, Ong rejected a cabinet position to concentrate on regaining the trust of the community.

His strong statements against Tengku Faris as well as the Islamic state agenda are seen as part of his strategy to win over the Chinese community.