GEORGE TOWN, Dec 1 — Under fire for his “kucing kurap” slur on Penang council workers, Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi today openly apologised at the DAP state convention here after a public rebuke by national party chairman Karpal Singh during the latter’s speech.
In a dramatic moment, Ooi went up to the lectern and grabbed the microphone immediately after Karpal’s speech to say his piece.
“Nobody can ask me to retract or apologise except for Karpal, whatever he said, I will follow 100 per cent,”
“I will not retract or apologise unless Karpal, the tiger of Jelutong, says so, the new tiger of Jelutong will follow,” he said amidst claps from some of the delegates.
Saying he could not retract the words already uttered, Ooi said he offered his “sincere apologies because his words had hurt the feelings of people”.
Moments before, Karpal had in his speech criticised Ooi for not showing due respect to council workers and told him to apologise to the council workers whom he had insulted.
“Every component must ensure respect is afforded, even the sweeper must not be insulted, the council must not be insulted, so I take this opportunity to tell Jeff Ooi to openly and unconditionally apologise to the municipal council workers for calling them ‘kucing kurap’,” he said.
He noted “kucing kurap” was an insult.
“What is ‘kucing kurap’? A cat with ringworms, a mangy cat? Someone with no significance? Someone that is useless?” He asked.
He said no matter the rank, council officers must be respected and no one should be considered low, but rather just from a different segment.
“I can’t direct him to apologise as only the Central Executive Committee (CEC) can direct him but I must make this clear that if Jeff persist in not apologising, the matter will be taken up with CEC to be dealt with, I am very serious on this issue,” Karpal said.
Party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng also took aim at Ooi in his speech after the latter apologised.
“We accept his apology but we hope he will respect all party leaders, not only listen to Karpal Singh,” he said.
He said Ooi must also extend the same respect to Chow Kon Yeow, the DAP Penang chairman.
“I didn’t want to raise this issue since he had apologised but I noticed Chow was unhappy so I have to say this,” he said.
He told Ooi that if he did not respect Chow and other party leaders, it meant he did not respect the party.
Ooi has drawn flak from leaders from both sides of the political divide for calling lower ranking council officers “kucing kurap” during a market visit on November 16.
Chow previously reprimanded him and asked him to apologise, but Ooi had kept mum over this issue.
