The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) was taken to task today for saying that UMNO's comments towards DAP during the former's general assembly would split the country along racial lines.

Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition members MCA and Gerakan said UMNO had done nothing wrong as the Malay-based party too had received brickbats from DAP, and that the latter also have a knack of bashing MCA and UMNO based on racial sentiments.

“How is it that when DAP bashes UMNO and MCA, it is okay with Saiful? Surely it works both ways,” MCA’s Ti Lian Ker told news portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT).

FMT reported think-tank chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan had suggested that DAP was “nothing more than a code to refer to the Chinese”, insinuating the DAP-bashing had stoked racism.

Citing controversial DAP leader Hew Kuan Yau as an example, Ti said the the former Teluk Intan division chief was not disciplined even after he had reportedly uttered “screw the Malays” during the Sarawak state election campaign in May.

Hew subsequently quit the party in July, a decision he said was made to prevent eventual attack on the party.