Penang MCA Wanita chief Tan Cheng Liang has not caved in despite the various criticisms against her so-called “racist” remarks questioning the award of state government projects to Malay contractors.

NONE Tan ( right ) continues to urge Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and his political secretary Ng Wei Aik not to divert attention from the real issue as both have yet to reply on whether an open tender for a Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) project had been called.

She said the Chinese media on July 28 had reported Lim’s statement that in all five districts in Penang, DID projects were offered to bumiputras, where 20 percent of the contractors were women.  

However, two days later, Chinese-language daily Kwong Wah Jit Poh reported that Ng had accused Umno of “pressuring Pakatan Rakyat to change its open tender policy”.

Ng, who is Komtar assemblyperson, had reportedly stated that projects worth more than RM200,000 were awarded through open tenders while those worth less were awarded directly to bumiputras.

“Later on he changed his statement and said that now Class F projects are subjected to open tender, but this is contradictory to what he said earlier and only confuses people,” she lamented.

“Ng had better correct his boss’ statement (and both should) coordinate the remarks (with each other) before accusing me of being ignorant,” she added in a statement.

Tan, the former Jawi assemblyperson, had earlier questioned if the projects were awarded to Pakatan’s cronies as it was not done in a transparent manner.

NONE She also criticised both Lim and Ng ( left ) for failing to coordinate their statements properly with one another  to reflect “a unified stand”.

Over the week, Tan had been criticised by two organisations - the Penang branch of the Malay Contractors Association and the Penang Association of F-Class Contractors - who accused her of stoking racial sentiments by questioning the awards collected by bumiputra contractors.

She was hounded by the duo following her criticisms against Lim for awarding only two (or 0.2 percent) out of 968 projects worth RM125 million to non-bumiputras under the open tender system.

Her accusations, however, contradicted Umno’s, who have consistently been attacking Lim for purportedly marginalising the Malays.

‘Raise issues in Parliament’

Meanwhile, Tan pointed out that prior to 2008, DAP had attacked MCA for not abolishing the 30 percent bumiputera quota and Class F contractor issues, which includes their high number - more than 40,000 nationwide - and inability to secure jobs.

She challenged Lim to raise these issues in Parliament as Pakatan had managed to secure more than one-third of the seats in the August House.

“Include their promise to solve these issues which they had promised in their Buku Jingga ( Orange Book ) to prove to the Chinese that they will keep their word,” she said.