PKR leader: MCA misused religion in lobbying sympathy for Najib

MCA has taken the 'PAS approach' of using religion for political expediency in defending incarcerated former prime minister Najib Adul Razak, alleged PKR deputy information chief Chua Wei Kiat.

In a statement today, Chua reminded MCA vice-president cum Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Ti Lian Ker not to feed ‘perverse idea’ to the rakyat.

"MCA can use the name of religion to gather sympathy and support Najib all they want, but don't ask the rakyat to follow suit.

"I would like to remind Ti to not feed perverse ideas and teachings to the young generation," said Chua (above), who is also Rawang assemblyperson.

He was responding to Ti’s remark yesterday on why there was no sympathy shown to Najib, especially among the Malays and Muslims.

"There are some who relentlessly want to see Najib be tortured and suffer in prison. Is it not enough to have his mind, body, and spirit tortured?

"Where is the culture of forgiveness of the Malays and Islam?" Ti had asked, in response to backlash to allegations that the jailed ex-premier is receiving preferential treatment via the healthcare system.

'Don't misuse religion'

Elaborating, Chua said Ti's remark is akin to the approach taken by PAS, of using religion for political expediency.

"All religions condemn corruption and abuse of power, as well as betraying the trust of the people.

"Before Najib was jailed, MCA was among the parties which followed the 'criminal' everywhere around the country during the elections," Chua said.

"We understand that every political party will be fishing for votes, now that the general election is approaching. In this case, MCA is clearly misusing religion to legitimise corruption, for the sake of attracting the attention of Umno and Najib's hardcore supporters," Chua added.

If MCA really believed in the concept of forgiveness, the party should mobilise its members and machinery to help the poor who have been jailed for stealing food to survive, he proposed.

"This (such incarceration) is clearly due to the failure of the BN and Perikatan Nasional (PN) governments to look after the people."

‘Forgiveness doesn’t come cheap’

Meanwhile, Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng also lambasted Ti over his statement, stressing that "forgiveness does not come cheap".

The DAP lawmaker further questioned how much money MCA has "received" from the funds stolen from 1MDB to show such strong support for Najib.

"If justice can be mocked in the name of forgiveness and sympathy, then people will no longer have confidence in our country's judicial system," he said, further daring Ti to organise a petition to ask MCA members and the people to forgive Najib over his crimes.

Further, he said Najib does not deserve sympathy as the Pekan MP still, to date, has not exhibited any form of remorse for the crimes.

"Sympathy cannot be shown to Najib until he has paid for his crimes as a non-VIP convict," added Lim.

Najib is serving a 12-year prison sentence for corruption in the SRC International case. In addition, he was also fined RM210 million.

COMMENT | Don't take us for fools, Ti!

Anwar: Najib had me jailed, don’t take Mandela comparison seriously

COMMENT | When ex-PMs become ‘interfering fools’

YOURSAY | Najib lovers, no forgiveness for him without repentance

Where is the Islamic spirit of forgiveness, deputy minister asks Najib haters