DAP remains baffled by the preposterous statement made by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang that DAP is supportive of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) to support trade in the country, that is purportedly controlled by the Chinese community.
Malaysians would expect such misrepresentation of DAP’s position or a racially-tinged statement from UMNO. For a PAS leader to indulge in such baseless untruths shows that PAS is now not only co-operating with UMNO but also adopting UMNO’s dirty politics of slander against the DAP.
The TPPA is initiated by UMNO not by DAP. TPPA is led by the United States to restrict China’s influence geo-politically. If Hadi is so anti-Chinese, he should not be against, but support the TPPA to oppose China. Why has Hadi not blamed or criticised UMNO? Or explained his failure to get UMNO to heed his advice to oppose TPPA, since he is now an advisor to the BN Federal government?
Hadi should not misrepresent the DAP’s position of opposing the TPPA, which has been announced several times before. DAP opposes the TPPA due to our deep concern about the impact of prices on ordinary Malaysians, the wage-earners and the small-time businessmen such as the Small & Medium Entreprises(SMEs). Nearly 40% of SMEs may close down because of the TTPA, a fact that the Federal government has yet to address.
How can Abdul Hadi Awang be a national political leader if he does not understand simple economics by refusing to blame UMNO but misrepresenting that DAP supports the US-led TPPA because the Chinese in Malaysia control trade. Using Hadi’s logic, then UMNO must be Chinese too for initiating the passing of the TPPA in Parliament. Why then does Hadi continue to work with UMNO and even advice the BN Federal government?
TPPA is not about race or religion but about its economic impact on the 30 million ordinary Malaysians whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans and Ibans concerned about the rising cost of living and failed economic policies of BN. Malaysians want to see those who seek to replace BN to save the country, unite around economic issues and fighting corruption, They want to see a viable alternative that can perform better economically, not make speeches full of baseless or illogical statements relying merely on emotion and sentiments.
Hadi must compete with BN based on economic performance, on action not empty rhetoric. The people must be convinced of living a better life economically under a new alternative to BN, and not replace an economically-distressed country with a bankrupt state.
Just as DAP can showcase Penang as a model of good economic performance of annual budget surpluses, reduced debt and increased cash reserves as well as a welfare state that is not bankrupt, can Hadi do the same for PAS? In other words, is PAS willing to fight BN on the critical issue of economy and economic performance?