KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 — Segambut’s DAP candidate Hannah Yeoh said today her team discovered posters depicting her with a Bible and a crucifix that was captioned “I live and die for Christians”.
She said this was a tactic to sow distrust among local Muslims.
The posters were found distributed and placed on cars parked near a mosque in Dutamas last night.
The former Subang Jaya state assemblyman and Selangor State Legislative Speaker said the posters will likely be used to scare off Segambut’s Malay voters.
Yeoh, a Christian, added that she is unperturbed by the assault on her faith. “This is not new to me,” she told Malay Mail.
“This is a scare tactic to frighten the Malays. Campaigning should be clean instead of resorting to gutter politics like this.”
Her lawyers have lodged a police report on the incident.
Yeoh’s faith became the centre of controversy last year when a pro-government academic accused her of conspiracy to spread Christianity through her autobiography titled Becoming Hannah: A Personal Journey.
The accuser, Malaysian Institute for Political Studies director Kamarul Zaman Yusoff, cited Yeoh’s writing about how the Christian faith influenced his political outlook was evidence of a conspiracy to evangelise Muslims.
Yeoh denied the allegation and had also lodged a police report on the incident.
Preaching Christianity or other faiths to Muslims is illegal in Malaysia, and political rivals have repeatedly alleged DAP to be guilty of it. Despite the uproar, no evidence has been produced to support the claims.
There are 77,965 total registered voters in Segambut, a federal seat northwest of the capital city.
The constituency is also among the rare few where ethnic Chinese form the majority; 59 per cent of the voters there are Chinese. Indians make up 12 per cent.
Yeoh will aim to defend the party’s seat against caretaker deputy Federal Territories minister Datuk Loga Bala Mohan and PAS’s Mohd Solleh Ab Razak.
