DAP has demanded an apology of debate organiser Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (Asli) for its discriminatory remark as the fallout over last Sunday's Chua-Lim debate continued to rage on.

In a hard-hitting statement today, Komtar DAP assemblyperson Ng Wei Aik ( below ), urged Asli senior vice-president Ng Yeen Seen to stop being a MCA's pawn.

NONE The political secretary of party sec-gen Lim Guan Eng was responding to Yeen Seen's statement yesterday denying Lim's earlier allegations of  bias, clarifying that Asli is a neutral and non-partisan organisation.

Earlier, Lim had claimed the questions session during his debate with MCA chief Chua Soi Lek was dominated by MCA supporters.

Lim argued that the microphone, initially placed in front of DAP supporters, was moved to where the MCA supporters were seated, and that only 200 out of 800 seats at the debate were reserved for DAP supporters.

Yeen Seen yesterday denied the allegations and hit out at DAP members for not attending the discussion sessions before the debate.

NONE However Wei Aik today questioned the last-minute move to increase the seats from 600 to 800, while allocations for DAP supporters remained at 200.

"Who are these increased seats for? Asli did not inform DAP about the increment. It claimed only 200 seats were reserved for MCA but almost all the 400 seats in front were occupied by MCA leaders. What have they got to say?"

‘Microphone denied’

On the issue of the microphone, Wei Aik stood firm that it was moved to MCA’s area soon after the debate began, saying viewers of the live broadcast can be his witnesses.

lim guan eng chua soi lek debate question from audience "This arrangement by the organiser was clearly to give more chance for MCA members to pose questions. But now it wants to push the responsibility to the moderator. This is very irresponsible," he said.

Wei Aik then pointed out the fact that Asli chose to co-organise the debate with a MCA think tank, The Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research (Insap), shows that the organisation is not neutral.

Wei Aik further claimed that Insap was hiding behind Asli and using Yeen Seen, who has Gerakan background, to "remote control" the debate.

Yeen Seen was the deputy director-general of Sedar Institute, a think tank linked to Gerakan.

As for the criticism that DAP supporters only attended the debate and not the earlier sessions at the day long conference, Wei Aik stressed that the party had earlier made it clear that its members were only interested with the debate.

The rest of the sessions co-organised by Insap, he said, contained racist elements.

"We were not like MCA supporters who behaved unruly and jeered, or 'Ms Tow Truck' (Selayang MCA coordinator Jessie Ooi) who scowled into the microphone," he said.

‘No dress code’

asli conference debate 180212 dap lim swee kuan As the DAP representative who had initially liaised with Asli on the debate, Wei Aik also commented on criticisms that DAP had worn yellow T-shirts to the debate, saying he had no prior notification of any dress code.

"Is it not enough for Yeen Seen to retract her statement in the media. We want her to apologise to all Malaysians!"

Yesterday Yeen Seen issued an amended statement some three hours after the first one was sent, to retract two paragraphs criticising DAP members for wearing T-shirt or even shorts at the debate, which she claimed was disrespectful to the event.