DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang today suggested that the two feuding factions in MCA unite to ensure that the party leadership does not buckle under the "unreasonable, unfriendly and undemocratic" Umno and Gerakan pressures to sack the MCA duo Tan Cheng Liang and Lim Boo Chang.

In the light of MCA deputy president Lim Ah Lek's decision to make a comeback to active politics, Kit Siang said it should provide the occasion for both the MCA Team A and B factions to unite to ensure that the party is able to withstand the pressures from Umno and Gerakan.

The two Penang MCA assembly representatives, Tan Cheng Liang (Jawi) and Lim Boo Chang (Datuk Keramat) have been severely reprimanded for abstaining in the DAP motion to defer the RM1.02 billion Penang Outer Ring Road (Porr) project until the RM400 million Jelutong Expressway is completed.

The DAP chief said in a statement the decision of the Umno supreme council on Friday that Tan and Lim should be sacked for breach of Barisan Nasional discipline even before the MCA leadership met on the issue was most "unprecedented, as it was public arm-twisting if not putting the pistol to the head of the MCA leadership to expel the two."

Lim also asked whether any MCA leader, whether in A or B Team, is prepared to stand out publicly to protest against such unreasonable, unfriendly and undemocratic Umno and Gerakan pressures.

Three reasons

He said MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik had succumbed to the high-level Umno and Gerakan pressure tactics, as indicated by the Mingguan Malaysia report yesterday of his weekend comments in Kuching, under the heading 'MCA mungkin pecat dua Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri' (MCA may sack duo).

Lim said the sacking of the two would be triply unfair.

Firstly, the MCA leadership would be merely succumbing to the unreasonable and undemocratic Umno and Gerakan pressures.

Secondly, the abstention of the two on the DAP motion on Porr in the Penang state assembly is supported by the people of Penang.

Thirdly, the precedent where no disciplinary action was taken against the four Umno state assemblypersons in Terengganu who violated the party directive to oppose the Terengganu PAS Syariah Criminal Bill (Hudud and Qisas) in the Terengganu state assembly on July 8 this year as three abstained and one was absent during the voting.