Guan Eng: Skin colour won't guarantee if you're rich or poor

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng reminded one and all, in a thinly veiled criticism against former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, that ethnicity had little to do with wealth.

This came after Mahathir reportedly said in an interview with Asia Times that Chinese Malaysians had become extremely rich and “practically own all the towns in Malaysia”.

He reportedly said that such disparity in wealth was unhealthy.

In his Facebook post last night, Lim (above) said the Chinese in Malaysia were tired of such “simplistic” labelling, as there exist many Chinese who were not rich and many non-Chinese who were.

“Malaysia is not colour-coded, we are all Malaysians who live together in the towns, cities, and villages.

“Similarly, skin colour does not guarantee that you are rich or poor. This is wrong,” Lim said, although he did not name Mahathir in his statement.

He urged Malaysians not to be divided along racial lines, but instead to unite on common principles such as upholding justice, freedom, prosperity for all, as well as to fight against corruption and abuse of power.

Previously, Mahathir’s remark on this matter also drew criticism from other leaders in DAP and PKR, who accused him of perpetuating the “rich Chinese” narrative.

Among others, Semambu assemblyperson Lee Chean Chung cited the work of economist Muhammed Abdul Khalid and said that intra-ethic differences accounted for 93.71 percent of economic disparity, while inter-ethnic differences accounted for only 6.39 percent.

Muhammed previously served as Mahathir’s economic advisor.

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