DAP has blasted MCA and Gerakan for threatening to close down their service centres following their wipeout from Penang in Sunday's general election, saying this amounts to a childish “tantrum”.

“DAP is not surprised that MCA and Gerakan are behaving in a childish manner by petulantly closing down their service centres in retaliation for their devastating defeats in the general election.

NONE “Such a reaction by Gerakan and MCA for losing in the election is akin to a child throwing tantrum for not getting what he or she wants.

“The people are sick and tired of these childish games.

"If MCA and Gerakan can close down service centres, why have MCA and Gerakan not announced that they will close down completely?” said DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng ( right ) in a statement today.

He said the BN component parties have “grossly underestimated the people’s yearning for change” in attempting to retaliate by frightening the voters with their move.

“DAP did not close down our offices or service centres when we lost in every general election from 1966 to 2008 but continued our struggle for the people,” Lim said.

Following Gerakan and MCA’s dismal performance in the 13th general election, where they bagged a total of eight parliamentary seats out of 222, some leaders have announced the closing of their service centres.

"Gerakan will close all its service centres in Penang, we will not have the resources any more to maintain them...," state BN Youth information chief H'ng Khoon Leng posted on his Facebook page.

'Tantrums won’t impress'

Lim said DAP would hold a “special national conference in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday for its 38 MPs and 107 state assemblypersons on plans to serve the nation and voters, as well as to replace MCA and Gerakan which have closed shop on their own following their total rejection by voters in the 13th general elections”.

He said the threats of the BN component parties “will not impress voters” as the people have already  “dismissed them as irrelevant” and made up their minds to reject BN.

This was evident from the election results, where Pakatan was given a 386,285-vote majority over BN.

Lim said the phenomenon of BN winning the election while losing out on the total votes cast was clear proof that electoral reform was badly needed.

“Malaysians who voted by a clear majority for Pakatan over BN would see the results as perverse in that BN, which lost the popular vote, won the government, while Pakatan won the popular vote but lost power.

“This is black becoming white and white becoming black,” Lim added.