Tuesday February 19, 2013

Johor state DAP chairman accuses Jui Meng of ‘vicious attacks’ against party

JOHOR BARU: Cracks in the Opposition in Johor have emerged with Johor DAP chairman Dr Boo Cheng Hau accusing Datuk Chui Jui Meng of being behind “vicious attacks” against Johor DAP.

In a two-and-half-page long statement (in Chinese) issued yesterday, Dr Boo said Chua should be removed as state PKR chief, claiming the latter refused to accept opinions or compromise on seat allocations for the state.

“I deeply believe Chua Jui Meng is the black hand behind all these vicious anonymous attacks against Johor DAP. There have been underground movements against Johor DAP for months,” said Dr Boo.

Dr Boo said that Chua was being arrogant despite being a fairly new addition to the Opposition.

“He has also openly stated his intention to contest the Gelang Patah seat even before a decision is made by the party leadership,” he said, while hoping that Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim or PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail takes over as state PKR chairman.

“I feel that this is really needed as one of them should see to it that operations in the state are streamlined and relations between the coalition parties are strong,” he said.

On Feb 15, Sin Chew Daily reported a claim by Dr Boo that “someone” is trying to force his party to let the Bakri parliamentary seat go in exchange for Gelang Patah.

Meanwhile, Chua said that Dr Boo should not get “too excited” over his statements.

“Dr Boo should be more mature, humble and patient as whatever it is, it is up to the party leadership to decide on such matters. It is just too bad for him if he is unhappy with me or the current agreement made on seat allocations in Johor,” he said.

“My job is to help Pakatan (Rakyat) win and I have constantly avoided making any controversial statements verbally or in my blog,” he said, adding that he had never stated any intention to contest for the Gelang Patah seat, and it was Dr Boo himself who had publicly stated intentions to contest there.

Chua said that Gelang Patah had been a PKR seat from 1995 to 2008 and unless the party leadership decided on a change, the seat would continue to be a PKR seat.

DAP chairman Karpal Singh urged Anwar to intervene and launch an inquiry into Dr Boo's claims.

In a statement issued to a news portal yesterday, Karpal said Chua's credibility was “suspect”.

“If Dr Boo's allegation that Chua has been the black hand behind a campaign against DAP in Johor were true, the latter must be checked in his tracks as soon as possible.

“The assertion by Dr Boo cannot be dismissed out of hand in the interests of the Pakatan Rakyat,” Karpal said.

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