The BN has poured scorn on the DAP’s effort to train its assemblypersons to become more visible publicly to boost their chances to be reappointed as candidates for the coming general election.

“The people should be more cautious in entrusting their future to the correct party,” said Komtar BN coordinator Loh Chye Teik.

Loh urged Penangites to recognise the “true colours” of DAP as a party which only focusses on publicity but lacks knowledge on how to run the government.

He was referring to state DAP secretary Ng Wei Aik’s recent statement that all its assemblypersons  need to hold at least three press conferences or issue three statements monthly.

NONE Ng ( left ), who is political secretary to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, had said that the party’s representatives should know how to carry our publicity events and become more high-profile.

“This is to avoid voters having a negative impression that they are not doing their jobs properly, which will affect their chances of being reappointed as a candidate,” Ng had told the media.

Loh said since the Komtar assemblyperson had issued such an order, it merely shows that the DAP places publicity about all else.

“If the people voted for a representative who only know how to hold press conferences or issue statements, we just cannot imagine the consequences, but unfortunately that is the understanding in DAP on how to pick their candidates,” said Loh.

“If the order is considered as a consensus in the party on how to judge the lawmakers’ performance, that means the benchmark used by them depends on how many press events are held and not on the quality or service track record of the candidates,” Loh added.

Meanwhile, the DAP had recently appointed Chong Eng to mend the strained relationship between the Chinese language media and the state government.

Commenting on this, Loh said the DAP was using every means to build a good relationship with the press, to “purify and bleach” their image.

It appears that the DAP is reluctant to utilise their resources to serve the people for welfare purposes instead, Loh quipped.

Loh reminded the DAP to respect the profesionalism of the press as BN has always “trusted and recognised” the media in Penang.

“They (the press) can handle news story about the ruling or opposition parties without fear or favour,” he said.

‘Copying the tactics of Chen Shui-bian’

Loh said he never denied the fact that DAP was rather successful in copying the publicity and branding tactics used by former Taiwan president Chen Shui-bian to ‘hoodwink’ many voters.

He added that the DAP was undoubtedly very confident with their party’s image such that they had often boasted that even if they put up a dog as a candidate, they would still be able to defeat BN.

They had urged the people to choose the party instead of candidates but such remarks “insult the intelligence and rational thinking” of Penangites.

“I hope our voters can analyse seriously and calmly whether DAP candidates are qualified or not and able to defend the interest of the peope or not before making their decision,” said Loh.

On a related matter, local Chinese language daily Kwong Wah Jit Poh had conducted an online poll to seek the public’s view on Ng’s statement.

Up to yesterday, 80 percent (or 109 voters) disagree and 20 percent (or 27 votes) agreed to the matter, with several comments saying that the method is somehow “too much”.

In an immediate response, Ng said DAP needed to organise the press conferences and issue press statements to constantly respond to or refute to BN’s daily “vicious attacks”.

“Our assemblypersons need to constantly explain what the state government has done for the people and correct whatever wrong facts that have been issued by the BN to tarnish our reputation,” said Ng when contacted.

Ng said the method was merely a means to monitor the party’s assemblypersons and carries no weightage in the selection of candidates or their reappointment.

“We need to monitor their performance, to see if they are responding to the public’s questions on various matter concerning them,” he added.

“Also, the public should be informed on whatever has been done for the sake of public interest; this is not a publicity stunt,” he stressed.