JOHOR BARU, Feb 21 — A former protege of DAP’s Dr Boo Cheng Hau today hit out at his recent statement calling for Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s resignation.
Johor DAP secretary Tan Hong Pin urged Dr Boo to cease his attacks on the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, telling him to instead assist in change for both Malaysia and Johor.
“Saudara Boo needs to withdraw from having the previous mindset that he is in the Opposition, more so with attacking the PH alliance,” he said in a statement issued today.
Tan, who is also the Skudai assemblyman, also said Dr Boo’s statement had damaged DAP’s image.
He stressed that the statement was Dr Boo’s personal view and did not receive Johor DAP’s blessing or endorsement.
“Such actions not only hurt our partners in the PH alliance, but will be a cause of pleasure for our enemies. This does not help us deal with the challenges ahead,” said Tan.
Tan, who is also the Johor local government, science and technology committee chairman, said Dr Boo, as a senior leader, should not have made such an irresponsible statement.
“As a Johor DAP committee member, he has a platform to voice his opinion, bur he failed to discuss it within internal channels as well as with the party’s state or central leaders.
“With his vast experience, Dr Boo can in fact assist the government by proposing beneficial policies that would benefit the country,” said Tan, adding that the former’s act of attacking his own party has made people question his motives.
Tan’s relationship with Dr Boo goes back to more than 15 years where the former had played a key role in assisting DAP to wrest the Skudai state constituency from Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 2008 general election.
On Tuesday, Johor DAP publicity secretary Sheikh Umar Bagharib Ali came out with an official statement, describing Dr Boo’s statement calling for Dr Mahathir to resign as prime minister as shallow and that it did not reflect the party’s stand.
This came on the same day that Dr Boo openly called for Dr Mahathir’s resignation, claiming the PM’s lack of confidence in himself as well as in the PH election manifesto.
