Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Mansor was reported to have requested the Chinese government to help remind the Malaysian Chinese community about the Malaysian government’s contributions to the country. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 — The ethnic Chinese in Malaysia do not need China to remind them of the federal government’s contributions to the country, DAP MP Teresa Kok said today.

When telling off minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor for reportedly making such an unacceptable request to China, Kok took the Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary-general to task for allegedly resorting to this move in a purported bid to regain Chinese voter support for the ruling coalition.

“Firstly, Malaysian Chinese are citizens of Malaysia and they do not need Chinese government to give them any advice or instruction. They have the right to support which ever political party they wish,” the Seputeh MP said in a statement today.

Today, Chinese-language paper Sin Chew Daily reported Tengku Adnan as purportedly saying yesterday that he hoped the Chinese government could help to tell Malaysia’s Chinese community about the Malaysian government’s contributions to the country in the past 57 years.

Among other things, the Federal Territories Minister also reportedly said the Malaysian government emphasised stability and had helped brought about many developments, but claimed that Malaysians often forget the government’s contributions.

His remarks were made at the opening ceremony of the China-Malaysia Friendship Garden in Malaysia, where China’s Ambassador to Malaysia Dr Huang Huikang was also present.

Kok described Tengku Adnan’s comments as painting the BN administration in a “pathetic” light and said it would turn the ruling coalition into a “political joke”.

“After reading his comments, the first thought that comes to my mind is why has the BN government become so pathetic that it has to ask a foreign government to help in regaining political support of its own citizens?

“Has the BN government lost total confidence in the ability of MCA, Gerakan and SUPP to regain the Chinese support?” the DAP national vice-chairman asked, later adding that China would just ignore Tengku Adnan’s remarks as it knew it had no right to tell Malaysian Chinese voters what to do.

BN’s blaming of voters for its electoral losses will only cause it to lose more votes, Kok warned, further saying that the ruling coalition must know what the Chinese community want to regain their support.

“If BN is serious in wanting to regain the support of the Chinese community, the first thing it should do is not to make silly statements like ‘people often forget what the government has done’.

“Such tactic of implying or blaming voters as ungrateful people will only cause anger and further erosion of support,” she said.

The Chinese community had largely voted against BN in the 2008 and 2013 elections, leading Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to dub the coalition’s losses in the latter at one point as a “Chinese tsunami” and Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia to use the controversial headline “Apa lagi Cina mahu?” (What more do the Chinese want?).

But analysts later pointed out that voters that had deserted BN cut across the racial divide and that the results reflected a split along urban and rural communities.

The Chinese community in Malaysia have taken root here for several generations, with many counting only their ancestors in China as their sole link to the Asian superpower.

But the loyalties of the Chinese and Indian community here have repeatedly been questioned despite being Malaysian citizens and counting Malaysia as their home for many generations, with some told to return to their purported home countries China and India.

Last night, Najib said that the slur “pendatang” or immigrant in Malay should be stopped from being used as every citizen is considered a Malaysian in their own right, adding: “We’re all Malaysians, only difference is not how long you’ve been here or where you come from or what religion you profess, only difference is your love for Malaysia.”