JOHOR BARU: Johor DAP chairman Liew Chin Tong ran out of topics to talk about when he resorted to criticising MCA candidates on their speech fluency, says Datuk Chong Sin Woon.

       The MCA secretary-general said instead of spewing baseless claims, Liew, who is a candidate for the Perling state seat, should concentrate on matters involving the constituency.

       “The fact that he issued a statement just to criticise and pick on our candidates on their speech fluency shows that he has lost his direction.

       “I hope Liew can go back to the basics and first tell the people all the wrongs that DAP had done in the past and how they plan to rectify them.

       “He should do this before talking about his plans for Perling because his tactic of giving sweet promises has also been recycled and overused,” Chong said in a press conference at the Johor MCA headquarters here Tuesday (March 8).

       He was commenting on Liew’s attack against at least 10 out of the 15 MCA candidates on Tuesday (March 8), saying that they cannot speak fluently in Bahasa Malaysia without a script.

       Chong also asked whether Liew could finish canvassing Perling by polling day as he is a parachute candidate.

       “Similarly, incumbent Senai assemblyman Alan Tee, now contesting the Yong Peng seat, has been criticising MCA’s Ling Tian Soon, who has been assisting the local community for years.

       “Liew has been bringing up Putrajaya and other federal issues but this is a state election to form a state assembly; the Johor people want to know how you can work for them,” he added.

       Earlier in the press conference, Chong said MCA aims to combine the strengths of its candidates to help achieve the Greater Johor Baru agenda, which aims to boost southern Johor’s developments.

       He said the Greater Johor Baru plan, announced last year, merges three city councils of Johor Baru, Iskandar Puteri and Pasir Gudang.

       “Five of our candidates are contesting in seats located in the councils’ jurisdictions such as Puteri Wangsa (Ng Yew Aik), Johor Jaya (Chan San San), Stulang (Ang Boon Heng), Perling (Tan Hiang Kee) and Skudai (Lim Soon Hai).

       “All five candidates are also former city councillors who are familiar with the community issues in their respective areas and have ample knowledge about how to address them.

       “If given a fresh mandate, they will work together to assist the city councils and push for the realisation of the Greater Johor Baru plan in the state assembly,” said Chong.

       Some of the issues that the five plan to assist in are public cleanliness, economic activities, education, public transport and political stability to attract more investors into the state.