The dwindling Chinese support for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, as outlined in the recent Merdeka Centre survey, would have been slashed further if the survey was done after Agriculture and Agro-Based Industries Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob's controversial statements about Chinese traders, DAP said today.

 

The party secretary general Lim Guan Eng said in a statement today that Najib should be happy to even get 10 percent of Chinese support following Ismail Sabri's remark and the government's own attempts to dismiss the racial undertones of the statement.

 

"Najib had openly allowed such overtly anti-Chinese, racist and extremist sentiments to be expressed by his cabinet member without being punished," he said.

 

The recent survey indicated that Najib retained support from only about 18 percent of the Chinese community, as his overall popularity slipped to the lowest to date - 44 percent.

 

"This level of Chinese support for Najib shows that there is hope yet for him to claw back some Chinese support, as there are some segments of the Chinese community who are so forgiving and submissive that they are willing to let Najib come to his senses by focusing on the economy," Lim ( left ) further said.

 

"The rise in petrol prices by 25 cents today exposes once again the racist lies of Ismail Sabri. Is Ismail going to blame the Chinese traders again for either causing the rise in petrol prices or for not reducing prices?" he asked.

 

Lim also flayed Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and BN for their "stark failure" in managing the economy.

 

He demanded that Najib answer for the ringgit's depreciation and Bursa Malaysia's bad performance compared to other regional stock markets.

 

Lim said that DAP and Pakatan is willing to compete with BN on policies and economy but not on racism and extremism.