“Position of BN component parties like beggars” is the headline of today’s Sin Chew Daily exclusive interview with former Gerakan President Datuk Seri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik, with a secondary headline: “Not given equal respect – Lim Keng Yaik”
Keng Yaik, who is now Gerakan adviser, told Sin Chew that Barisan Nasional component parties like MCA, MIC including Gerakan ended up with status like that of “beggars” as they were not given equal position in the Barisan Nasional.
He criticized BN for not treating its component parties equally. He stressed that although Malay special rights are protected under the Constitution, the non-Malays also clearly enjoy their own rights.
This is a gem of an admission from Keng Yaik, who had been a Cabinet Minister for 22 years from 1986 to 2008.
MCA, Gerakan, MIC and other BN component parties had long been criticized for accepting “beggar politics” in the Barisan Nasional and Cabinet.
When did Keng Yaik discover that he had been a “beggar Minister” for 22 years? After his political retirement and the March 8 political tsunami?
During the 2008 general election campaign, Keng Yaik went all out to campaign for Dr. Koh Tsu Koon to replace him as the Gerakan “beggar Minister” in Cabinet and to send his son, Lim Si Pin to be a “beggar” MP in the Malaysian Parliament.
Why had Keng Yaik been so blind that he was blissfully unaware for more than two decades that he had been a “beggar Minister” for 22 years, with the scales coming out of his eyes only after the March 8 “political tsunami”?