They don't call her 'cili padi' for nothing.

dap ipoh ceramah 240208 fong po kuan 1 And the 35-year-old politician lived up to her nickname when she dished out stinging criticisms against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at a ceramah in Ipoh last night.

In a nutshell, DAP's Fong Po Kuan summed it up by telling the prime minister: "You are incompetent and you are not doing your job."

The some 500 people, who packed a community hall where the DAP politician was speaking and the 200 more who gathered outside, responded with cheers and applause.

dap ipoh ceramah 240208 crowd on the street Come the March 8 elections, Fong will be defending her Batu Gajah parliamentary seat.

During her campaign rally, she also took Abdullah to task for allegedly neglecting the rise in crime and for his poor attendance in Parliament.

According to her, the premier only attended Parliament five days in a year. Fong was also dissatisfied with Abdullah’s jet-setting lifestyle.

She claimed that by being a frequent flyer, it had affected his performance as prime minister.

Challenge for Ka Chuan

Following this, DAP deputy secretary-general M Kulasegaran told the audience that MCA Perak chairperson Ong Ka Chuan had allegedly failed to keep the promise he made in the last elections.

In view of this, he said the MCA leader should not ‘trick’ the voters with another scheme such as the ‘Nine Development Plan’ in the coming polls.

dap ipoh ceramah 240208 kulasegaran 2 Kulasegaran will be defending his Ipoh Barat parliamentary seat while Ong will be vying for the Tanjong Malim parliamentary seat. In the last elections, he lost to Fong in Batu Gajah.

Prior to that, he had told the voters in Batu Gajah that he would continue to serve the people in the constituency even if he lost.

However, he has now opted for a safe seat instead.

The ‘Nine Development Plan’ by is aimed at uplifting the standard of living around Kinta Valley.

Kulasegaran challenged Ong, whose elder brother Ka Ting is MCA president, to a debate and gave him 48-hours to respond.

dap ipoh ceramah 240208 crowd Meanwhile, the audience broke into a loud applause when DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang arrived at the community hall.

Although visibly fatigued, the veteran politician still managed to enthrall the audience with a hard-hitting speech.

He said the March 8 polls was no longer about development but rather an opportunity to humble Umno’s ‘arrogance’.

He added that the Umno-dominated political culture had not brought about any benefit to anyone, including the Malay community.