Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter, or Telegram and WhatsApp channels for the latest stories and updates.
The accusation landed on a Monday (8 June).
Political commentator Tajuddin Rasdi had called Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi’s refusal to work with DAP a display of racism — a charge that, in Malaysia’s politically charged climate, carries considerable weight.
The response came quickly, but not from UMNO.
It was MCA president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong who stepped forward first, pushing back with a pointed question of his own: if rejecting DAP is racism, what exactly has DAP been doing all these years for refusing to work with MCA, UMNO, PAS, MIC and Bersatu?
“DAP is not a race. It is a political party,” Wee said in a Facebook post.
Rejecting a political party is not rejecting a race.
The Charge Onn Hafiz Would Not Accept
The dispute had its roots in a declaration Onn Hafiz made weeks earlier.
As BN Johor chairman, he said that BN would contest the coming state election independently — and that he would sooner give up the Mentri Besar post than form a government with DAP.
When the racism and arrogance charges followed, Onn Hafiz did not let them stand.
In a statement, he said his position had been mischaracterised.
His refusal to include DAP in a future Johor government was not driven by racial sentiment or hubris, he said, but by a responsibility to honour the mandate BN had received from Johor voters.
This is not a matter of arrogance. Nor is it a matter of race. It is a matter of principle — and our responsibility to Bangsa Johor.
He also drew a direct line between his stance and the wishes of BN’s grassroots supporters, who had made clear they wanted the party to contest the Johor state election on its own terms.
UMNO Youth Follows, Louder
Wee, who is also Johor’s Ayer Hitam MP, went further, describing Onn Hafiz as “among the least racist leaders” he had encountered in his political career, and noting that two MCA representatives — Lee Ting Han on investment and trade, and Ling Tian Soon on health and environment — hold substantive portfolios in the current Johor state government.
To accuse Onn Hafiz of racism simply because Johor Barisan Nasional wants to contest on its own is unfair, irresponsible and politically dishonest.
UMNO Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh arrived at the same position, but with considerably less restraint.
Where Wee was measured, Akmal was triumphant; he praised Onn Hafiz’s consistency, called him the kind of principled leader Bangsa Johor should be proud of, and took a direct swipe at DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke, who had described BN’s stance as arrogant.
“Orang tidak mahu duduk dengan kamu, mahu cakap orang angkuh. Kenapa pula?” Akmal wrote — loosely, if someone does not want to sit with you, why call them arrogant?
If we want to fight, then let’s fight.
BN Draws A Line Between Coalition And Competition
Buried near the end of Wee’s statement was a sentence that pointed beyond the immediate argument.
“Johor is not Putrajaya,” he said.
A federal arrangement after GE15 cannot be blindly forced onto a state election.
At the federal level, BN and DAP both sit in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Unity Government.
That arrangement has held since the 2022 general election, but Johor BN is now drawing a clear line: what applies in Putrajaya does not automatically apply in Johor Bahru.
It is a quiet but consequential signal — that as the Johor state election approaches, BN is not just defending one Mentri Besar’s personal stance.
It is staking out the terms on which it intends to fight, and win, on its own.
Share your thoughts with us via TRP’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Threads.
Why MCA, Not UMNO, Fired Back First On The DAP Question
Entertainment Flash Report
Comments
Post a Comment