KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 — The contradicting views expressed by different MCA leaders about the controversial cancellation of a planned beer festival was proof the party is democratic, its leader Datuk Jason Teoh Sew Hock said today.

"Democracy means allowing your party leaders to air their thoughts, no matter what they are and even if they go against another leader’s statement,” the MCA Public Complaints and Services Bureau chairman said.

"That is the freedom that leaders in DAP do not have as everyone has to listen to Lim Kit Siang and his son Lim Guan Eng,” he added.

Teoh was responding to criticism by the DAP’s parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang, who labelled MCA a party "without political principles” after the senior Barisan Nasional component party changed its position to support the ban.

Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) nixed the Best Beer Festival that was slated for next month due to "political sensitivity” following protest from PAS. The event also sparked uproar among conservative Muslims.

MCA initially opposed the decision, saying the move trampled on minority rights and risked emboldening extremists. But Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai later said security concerns brought up during the Cabinet meeting prompted his party to support the decision.

Police has since claimed the event was a potential target for attacks by militants and certain parties who are out to sow chaos. DBKL had previously said it rejected the permit on police advice, although organisers said they were never informed about the supposed threat.

Teoh in defending his party said MCA agreed to the ban because it prioritised the safety over before politics, race and religion. On the contrary, he suggested DAP leaders were only interested in politicising the issue.

The MCA leader also claimed DAP’s political co-operation PAS in the past helped "empower” and legitimise the Islamist party’s conservative agenda.

In a separate statement, MCA publicity spokesman Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker made a similar remark, pointing out that DAP had not objected to the Selangor state’s opposition towards the Oktoberfest beer festival in 2014.

"Where was Lim Kit Siang when PAS, the party they had once empowered, stood against Oktoberfest? Was Lim Kit Siang quiet because he was afraid of destroying what he had accomplished; to convince the Chinese to support PAS?” Ti asked.

Several PAS lawmakers had then demanded that the Petaling Jaya City Council take action against the companies involved for advertising the beer festival without permits and for seeking to hold it in an open venue.