KUALA LUMPUR: DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng was on the receiving end over his tweet that was intended to pay tribute to the party's four leaders who will not be defending their parliamentary seats in the 15th General Election (GE15).
Earlier today, Lim took to his Twitter account earlier to pay tribute to the quartet, namely Damansara incumbent member of parliament Tony Phua, Charles Santiago (Klang), Kasthuri Patto (Batu Kawan) and Dr Ong Kian Ming (Bangi).
"Tribute to the 4 DAP incumbent MPs not contesting in the coming GE Tony Pua, Charles Santiago (Klang), Kasthuri P. Patto (Batu Kawan), & Dr Ong Kian Ming (Bangi) who gracefully decided to support their replacements.
"Your contributions will not be forgotten as your devotion to the party and the people you served.
"I wish to single out Tony who was not only a close confidante, indefatigable campaigner, talent head hunter and fund raiser extraordinaire but also put nation above self by rejecting a government post to help me in the Ministry of Finance (during the then Pakatan Harapan administration)," said Lim in a series of tweets.
The posting, however, did not go down well with many Twitter users since one the four leaders — Santiago — was reported to have been puzzled that his name may not be in the DAP's line-up for the Nov 19 election, though when it was confirmed he was dropped, he reacted graciously.
Some netizens responded noting that while three of the four outgoing MP's wanted to make way for newer, younger and upcoming faces, Santiago, who has been the Klang MP for three terms, on the other hand was one who wanted to stay on and continue to serve and represent the constituency.
"As you can see from the numerous queries, you really need to explain why @mpklang (Santiago) was removed.
"The others we know, they wanted to step down, but @mpklang wanted to stay. Kudos on @mpklang that he remains a team player, but we need an explanation," wrote @ianjuliane.
Another user, @RoyalBakery15 wrote the party had made the wrong move by dropping Santiago in DAP's line-up for GE15.
"Can you confirm if @mpklang wanted to be out or did you all cut him off? If you all cut him off, why?" asked another Twitter user going by the handle @williamjacob88.
Meanwhile, @superspecially wrote to ask why the party decided to drop all performing MPs from defending their seats.
"What is DAP doing… (it's) madness."