GEORGE TOWN: Gerakan has condemned the political intimidation and gangster behaviour against Penanti assemblyman Dr Norlela Ariffin over the illegal carbon filter factory fiasco in Sungai Lembu.
Norlela's championing of the issue, at the request of her constituents, had led to the closing down of the factory following a raid by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and other government agencies recently.
Gerakan secretary-general Datuk Liang Teck Meng said such political intimidation and gangster behaviour had no place in politics.
He said whenever DAP was found to have committed wrongdoing, or when someone spoke up against it, such threats would inevitably emerge.
"This is nothing more than political gangsterism.
"DAP is implicitly encouraging gangster behaviour by refusing to condemn threats made on elected representatives," he said in a statement today.
Liang said he was disappointed with the revelation from Norlela that there were some Pakatan Harapan supporters who had called and scolded her over the Sungai Lembu illegal factory issue.
He added that he was also shocked and angered when Norlela wrote that some of these people had even issued threats on her, which forced her to lodge a police report.
"This reminds me of the hell-notes and threatening letters that my colleague and I had received in the mail when I had called for the Penang Chief Minister to come clean on his bungalow scandal (in the past).
"Until today, no one from DAP has come out to condemn the threats made on Norlela or me.
"On top of the crude and frequent name-calling and insulting language of the top DAP leaders, which encourage their supporters to do the same, by remaining silent on the threats, DAP is implicitly encouraging such gangster behaviour," he added.
Norlela had taken to Facebook to vent her frustration over the treatment she received following the expose on the illegal carbon filter factory in Sungai Lembu recently.
She had lamented how Pakatan supporters had accused her of being a “Barisan Nasional mole” over the issue.
"They even called me 'useless ADUN' (assemblyman) for causing the illegal factory to close down and for disturbing those who are trying to make a living," she had said in the posting on her official Facebook page -- Norlela Ariffin.