KAMPAR: The Chinese community still remembers the pain caused by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad during his tenure as prime minister.
MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the decision made by DAP to collaborate with the former premier has disheartened the Chinese community.
“Previously, DAP had worked with Hadi (PAS party president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang) and they were supposed to deliver a welfare state.
“Unfortunately Hadi, tried to turn Malaysia into an Islamic theocratic state and this has disappointed the Chinese community.
“Now, DAP is working with Dr Mahathir and they (the Chinese community) will not come forward as he had caused them a lot of pain,” Liow said at a press conference today at Moy Kong Kampar Association here.
Liow added the Chinese community still remembers vividly over what they had to face during Dr Mahathir’s leadership with issues such as Ops Lalang and the state of Chinese education.
He also Chinese support for MCA has been gaining ahead of the general election next week.
“We have received very good response from the Chinese community as they can see that DAP had given them false hopes and did not fulfill their promises in the last two general elections.
“I'm confident that MCA will regain the Chinese votes as we have been working hard to gain their support,” he said.
Liow added the party has been working hard to capture the support of the Chinese community during the election to emphasise on the importance of the community in the country.
“It is important to have the unity of the Chinese in the government and make sure of our continuity and national prosperity.
“We must remember that our nation’s economy is at a growing stage,” he said.
Earlier, Liow attended a dialogue session with Kampar residents.
Also present at the event were BN Kampar parliamentary candidate Datuk Lee Chee Leong, BN Malim Nawar state seat candidate Chang Gwo Chyang and BN Keranji state seat candidate Daniel Wa.