KUCHING: Giving out ‘ang pow’ (red packets) is a generous act but if the ‘ang pow’ comes from public funds, that’s misuse, said Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) president Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing.
Tiong raised the issue after the DAP distributed ‘ang pow’ to about 700 independent Chinese secondary school teachers and staff members using money taken from their constituency allocations.
“As a public servant, I am all for helping the rakyat from our own pockets in a transparent and fair manner.
“But when it involves giving money taken from their constituency allocations, it is tantamount to misuse of public funds and soils the good name of these education professionals,” he said in a statement yesterday.
He also mentioned that by using public funds to give cash bonuses to teachers, the DAP is opening the floodgates to accusations of being racially insensitive and biased.
“All school teachers are selflessly dedicated to providing the best education possible but in this case, why only the staff of the independent Chinese secondary schools get to receive these ‘ang pow’?
“Are they denying the efforts of those teachers and staff in the Chinese primary schools and other vernacular schools?” he questioned.
Ting, who is also the Bintulu MP, believed that while the hardworking teachers and staff members deserve to receive bonus for their effort, DAP should work harder to get the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) recognised.
“The DAP should not distract the people from the party’s forgotten pledge of getting the UEC recognised for admission to public universities.
“From incessantly promising the moon and sky to get the UEC certificate recognised, they seem to have all but dropped this promise in place of just giving ‘donations’ to people.
“Has their conscience eroded to such a degree that they don’t seem to care anymore and just blindly misuse public allocations now?” Tiong further questioned.
Tiong went on to say that the DAP has been trumpeting the poor state of the country’s financial health and accused the previous government of bringing us to bankruptcy.
“Have we been brought back from the brink of bankruptcy now that they could give out so much ‘ang pow’? The DAP is even more thick-faced today if they can buy the people’s votes in this manner,” he added.
