PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang is sounding like Umno in accusing DAP of chauvinism for wanting to bring back local elections, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang says.

"I am amazed as to why the head of a political party that rivals Umno is parroting the line of Umno propagandists and cybertroopers who accuse DAP of being 'chauvinistic' in wanting to have local government elections.

"One would expect more originality, and even creativity, from Hadi," said Lim, who is also Gelang Patah MP.

Lim was responding to Hadi ( photo ), who last Sunday reportedly accused DAP of wanting the Chinese to takeover municipal authorities by introducing local elections.

The DAP veteran described Hadi's remarks as an "unkind cut" after the party allowed him to take the second opposition seat in Parliament, even though DAP has the most parliamentary seats in the opposition while PAS has the least.

"It (giving Hadi the seat in Parliament next to the opposition leader) would not have been the case if DAP is 'chauvinistic' as Hadi is now charging, as we would then be subjecting all considerations to the question of racial interest," Lim said.

He added that DAP had fought for local elections since its inception in 1966 and rubbished this would lead to Chinese control, pointing out that 90 percent of the 148 local authorities are Malay-majority while only two to three percent were Chinese-majority.