DAP heavyweights Tony Pua and Hannah Yeoh have lambasted the party's central committee member Ronnie Liu for a speech in which he said the party should not belittle or degrade itself just to gain Malay support.

Liu, who is Sungai Pelek assemblyperson, said DAP, while multiracial in nature, should not "dilute its Chineseness" just to gain Malay support.

In a no holds barred response, Damansara MP Pua said that Liu is the 'Chinese chauvanist the party doesn't need'.

"For decades, the DAP has been labelled, both with justification and often unfairly, that we are a Chinese chauvinist party...