DAP national chairman Lim Kit Siang today said that the bitterness and rivalry between MCA Team A and B has compromised and undermined the rights of the Malaysian Chinese community.

Lim, in a press statement, was referring to the controversy which has recently erupted over the Kong Ming lanterns, which has been totally banned by the police effective Thursday.

He said when the controversy started, MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik said the tradition of releasing the lanterns should be preserved as it encourages people to be "strategic thinkers."

Ling claimed that he was the o­ne who introduced the lanterns in Malaysia about 10 years ago.

But when police imposed the ban followed by Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's comment that it was o­nly a partial ban to allow the lanterns to be released during the Chap Goh Mei celebration, Ling did "a total somersault and declared full support for the immediate and total ban", said Lim.