DAP today urged MCA to ban its members from attending future events hosted by Malay rights pressure group Perkasa because it was a “racist” organisation.

NONE In a statement today, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said if MCA does not impose the ban, it would prove that they had ties with Perkasa.

Lim said DAP was “shocked” that MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek had announced that no ban was in place and hoped that he would reverse the decision.

“Allowing MCA members and supporters to attend Perkasa’s events not only proves MCA’s links with Perkasa.

“By doing so, MCA acknowledges Perkasa has an important role to play in Malaysian political life despite Perkasa’s racist and extremist struggle against non-Muslims and non-Malays.

“Is MCA and Chua so afraid of Perkasa that they dare not even prevent their members from attending Perkasa’s functions?” he asked.

'Perkasa breeds hate'

Lim said Chua and MCA cannot claim to defend the interest of the Malaysian Chinese if it allows its members to attend Perkasa functions, because the group “breeds hate” against non-Malays.

Yesterday, Chua said he would not stop MCA members from attending Perkasa events because Malaysia was a democratic country.

MCA came under the spotlight after its Sri Desa branch chairperson Dr Collin Tiew attended an Perkasa Chinese New Year event on January 29, which saw money in white envelopes being handed out to participants, instead of the ang pow (red packets).

Critics said the white envelopes were considered taboo because they were reserved for funerals. Perkasa has blamed ignorance of Chinese customs for the blunder.

On Tiew’s part, he was criticised for going on stage to translate Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali’s speech, while later accompanying him for a press conference and distribution of the white envelopes.

Tiew had claimed that Ibrahim’s act was deliberate and has resigned from his party positions in order to protect MCA from being further tainted.

However, Chua claimed that Perkasa did not perform the white envelope blunder on purpose and stressed that Tiew did not represent MCA at the event.