Kedah Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang has received a rain of fire for his internet posting that made an inappropriate remark about Subang Jaya state assemblyperson Hannah Yeoh's pregnancy.

NONE Tan's posting appeared yesterday evening on a Twitter discussion on whether voters should make choices based on individuals or parties.

At one point, Tan ( right ) asked a voter with the handle "jqquah" from the Subang Jaya state constituency whether he would vote BN if it fields a "good" candidate there.

The  individual replied "of course", adding that MCA Beliawanis treasurer Jessica Lai was tipped to contest there.

hannah yeoh interview 110608 03 This prompted Tan to make the offending remark, "Would you choose Jessica Lai or Hannah Yeoh ( left ) who will be on maternity leave soon?"

This was met with an angry reprimand from The Sun editor R Nadeswaran, who replied to Tan describing his comments as "disgusting” and "out of order".

"Wasn't your mother pregnant with you? What about your wife?" wrote Nadeswaran.

"During election time, this MCP will be talking of gender equality! His statement will haunt him forever," added Nadeswaran in a separate post.

'Insult to women'

Yeoh's Pakatan Rakyat colleagues Elizabeth Wong and Teresa Kok also blasted Tan for his untoward remark.

NONE In a Twitter post, Wong ( right ) described Tan's statement as "bloody appalling" adding that maternity leave has nothing to do with Yeoh's productivity as a state legislator.  

Wong, who is a Selangor exco member, said that Tan's remark was an insult to women.

Fellow exco member Kok urged Tan to apologise to Yeoh and said that the Gerakan youth leader needed gender sensitivity training.

"I would gladly sponsor Tan for gender equality training by any one of the women’s NGOs in Malaysia," said Kok in a statement today.  

In another statement, Teratai state assemblyperson Jenice Lee hit out at Tan accusing him of questioning Yeoh's maternity leave but turning a blind eye to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen's excessive overseas trips while in office.

She said that Najib has been prime minister for 588 days but he has spent 274 days, or about nine months, abroad, while Ng has spent about three months abroad during her 10 month tenure.

 

"Tan should spend more time and effort to monitor the government officers and not turn a state assemblyperson's maternity leave into an issue," she said.

Tan claims innocence

Meanwhile, Tan later clarified that he had never claimed that Yeoh was unfit to serve as a state assemblyperson despite being pregnant.

"Stating that someone will go on maternity leave does not mean that the person would be completely unfit to serve as a state assemblyperson.

"I understand the need of certain politicians to capitalise on the issue by interpreting my tweet in the most negative manner that they could.

"I would advise Kok to rectify her statement and not add or imply anything which I did not (write)," said Tan in a text message reply to Malaysiakini .

The flurry of tweets also attracted Pakatan and BN supporters to jump in, with some turning their attention towards MCA’s Lai.

An irate Lai replied in various Twitter posts reprimanding Pakatan supporters of attacking her unnecessarily.

"I'm not pregnant. How to take maternity leave? They gila (crazy). Stupid baseless attack. Please shout (sic) they are losers. Can't answer issues raised by BN," she wrote, among others.