DAP grassroots leaders have dismissed Lim Kit Siang’s claims of a secret “Chinese solidarity” pact between the leadership of the party and MCA and Gerakan.

They told The Malaysian Insight it would have been impossible for rival parties MCA and Gerakan to recruit DAP members to such a cause.

They said Lim had likely made those comments in view of coming party polls for which he would be trying to shore up support. Lim could be hoping set the for party “liberals” against the members who want DAP to retain its “Chinese” focus, the said.

Ronnie Liu, who is the Sungai Pelek assemblyman, said he had never heard of anyone of his party asserting they would only work for the interests of the Chinese community.

“I have heard such remarks from people from MCA and Gerakan.”

Liu as far as he could recall, only the leaders of those two parties had made such a call, particularly MCA under the leadership of Lee San Choon.

The MCA statements were made more than 40 years ago in the 1970s, Liu said.

“They talked about (Chinese unity) at the time, but they haven’t brought it up since.”

More recently, Liu said former Gerakan vice president Goh Cheng Teik had called for unity among the Chinese community in the 1990s.

DAP, however, would never propose such a thing because it believed in the unity of all Malaysians, he said.

He said DAP might have asked for cooperation between the Chinese associations and education groups but it would not call for a “great Chinese unity”.

Liu added that there was no evidence to support Lim’s allegations that certain party members were involved in a “secret operation” nor did he provide the names of the people who were involved in the alleged Chinese complot.

It would be counter productive for DAP to advocate for such a plan because its supporters would never go for it, he said.

“If anyone from the DAP proposes this, they will sabotaging themselves.”

Earlier this week, Lim said there was a covert “Chinese unite” movement to respond to the Malay unity campaign. The Chinese group are said to be planning to get Chinese voters to vote along racial lines in the next general election.

It was MCA and Gerakan leaders who dreamed up the plan, to which they hoped to recruit DAP, said Lim.

Election propaganda

Other DAP grassroots members said Lim might have been trying to set the narrative for his campaign in the lead up to party polls.

A party leader said it was a sensitive time for the party, as DAP was facing its party elections and possibly the general election, with everyone trying to be part of the new leadership.

Former Pandamaran assemblyman Eric Tan who started the “overthrow Lim” campaign in the party election also agreed that this was just an election strategy by the veteran politician.

He said Lim’s claim was to make sure his followers will win at the party election.

Tan, however, decided not to comment on whether one should or shouldn’t support the idea of a “great Chinese unity”, picking self preservation as the best solution.

“This is a trap, waiting for others to step into it. Comments will be counted. As long as you speak, you will be tricked. Ignore it, and you won’t step into the trap.”

He also criticised Lim for deceiving “honest, loyal, and enthusiastic” members of the party in the past.

Following his first statement on the “Chinese unity” movement on April 19, Lim clarified the next day that he was not referring to anyone within the DAP participating in the movement.

He also said party members “were not colluding with the MCA and Gerakan”.

His original statement had mentioned the existence of a secretive cohort in DAP which had questioned the party’s selection of non-Chinese candidates to stand in constituencies that in the cohort’s view should be represented by Chinese candidates. – April 23, 2021.