'Superficial' clothing not needed for support, Boo tells 'Dr M yes man' Guan Eng
Former Johor DAP chief Dr Boo Cheng Hau has hit back at party chief Lim Guan Eng after being told to not be a fashion cop.
Boo, who had been critical of Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh wearing a headscarf at a mosque, said that "superficial political gimmicks" and over-appeasing an ethnic group would only bring temporary gains.
"Your (Lim's) question on commenting on women’s dressings is also irrelevant.
"The precise point is that we should not use dressing as a political mileage.
"If Liew Chin Tong dresses like an ulama to go to a mosque to canvas votes, I would think that may be perceived to gain political (mileage) and may not bring about any positive results to DAP," he said in a Facebook post addressed to Lim.
Boo had recently lashed out over Yeoh's attire at a mosque open day in her constituency in a leaked Johor DAP WhatsApp group conversation.
He remarked that DAP's women leaders should wear hijabs everywhere and even consider converting to Islam in order to win the next general election.
He defended his remarks when speaking to Malaysiakini, saying that while cultural sensitivity was important, DAP must go beyond "superficial" means in approaching the Malay community, while being fair to all communities.
‘Help with sincerity’
Following this, Lim came to Yeoh's defence and chastised Boo, saying the former Skudai assemblyperson should not act like a "PAS extremist".
Keeping to his views, Boo remarked that during his time as Johor DAP chief, the state chapter had donated its own funds to Chinese, Tamil, and Muslim religious schools without having to dress up.
"I did not have to wear any religious headgear and outfit to appease anyone. I went only with a sincere heart to help each community, especially their social and education needs.
"I believe one could win more support if he helped others with sincerity, and helped all communities fairly," he said.
Boo said that trying too hard to appease one ethnic group while neglecting others can lead to one being despised by his "own kind" while losing the respect of others.
He alleged that the Chinese community, for example, were still mad at Lim for his actions when he was finance minister.
"My dear secretary-general, your good self still does not comprehend by now as to why the Chinese community still cannot accept your refusal to allocate funds to Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TAR UC) when you were the finance minister.
"The Chinese community has been upset with you for putting partisanship above education and for being a yes man to Dr Mahatir Mohamad," he said
As FM, allocated RM100 million to Tahfiz schools whilst denying matching grant to TARUC. Sneered at by hawkers to journalists for his over-eagerness to please the Malays and show he is not a Chinapek
The Pakatan Harapan government drastically reduced funding for MCA-owned TAR UC on the grounds that public funds should not be used for politically-linked entities.
MCA used the issue to accuse Harapan, DAP, and Lim of stymying higher education for Chinese youths.
In his closing remarks, Boo said DAP must stay true to its principles of creating a fair and just Malaysia by treating all ethnic and social groups equally.
"If we could achieve that, we would win people’s hearts any moment from now. If we try to be what we are not by over-appeasing anyone, that would be actually counterproductive to the party.
"It is just my sincere and humble opinion. Thank you for your comradeship and patience to listen," he said.
which chinese is boo representing or talking about that is still mad at dap or is it just his own personal dissatisfaction which I think is more accurate, how he can turn a mundane and trivial episode of personal attire preference into the involvement of 3rd party dap bashing is the height of stupidity, if boo choose to be a hardliner who thinks appeasement is a bad word then I think he is out of place in the present day dap
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