JOHOR BARU, Oct 25 — A Johor Umno leader claimed that the previous Pakatan Harapan (PH) government had oppressed the Chinese community in the country in terms of economic development and education during its 22-month administration.

Johor Umno deputy chief Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said this was because then finance minister Lim Guan Eng, who was voted in by Chinese voters, practised favouritism and cronyism.

He explained that in the 14th general election (GE14), the Chinese community were led to believe by PH that their fortunes would be defended by a Chinese finance minister for the first time since 1976.

"However, that hope was shattered,” he said.

Nur Jazlan said last week there was a group from the Chinese business community who made an open request for him to return and stand as a candidate in Pulai.

He claimed that the group wanted him to make a comeback in an effort to change the economic, business and educational situation in the Pulai area.

"They claimed they have been fed up under PH for the past four years. In GE14, they admitted to being swayed by PH with the hopes that their fate would change.

"As it turns out, the finance minister who was elected by Chinese voters also practises favouritism and cronyism.

"After they came to power, the PH government ‘punished’ economic-friendly BN projects without considering its economic foundation and impact on the country,” said Nur Jazlan in a Facebook posting today.

The former parliamentarian and deputy minister also claimed that the Chinese community were also prejudiced and denied their rights by the PH government on the issue of education.

"Look at what happened to the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), the annual allocation to the Chinese university was cut just because the educational institution was started by the MCA.

"Even when it comes to future education, the PH government wants to politicise the matter, but it is the people who become the victims,” said Nur Jazlan, who himself is partly of Teochew Chinese descent from the maternal side of his family.

Nur Jazlan also hit out at the DAP’s previous ‘Ubah Ini Kalilah’ slogan that he said had caused more harm than good to the country’s political landscape, pointing to having three different governments after GE14.

"What I see from the situation is that the Chinese community now wants to return to their basic needs which are the economy and education.

"They are starting to realise that PH is only fulfilling their promises to only bring socio-economic changes in Pulai in particular and Johor as a whole,” he said.

Nur Jazlan said that it was because of this that the Chinese business community had implored him to contest again in Pulai, because they know that only BN can restore the socio-economic stability.

He added thar after Johoreans returned the mandate to BN as the state government, the issue of cooperation between Johor and Singapore requires uniformity between the state government and the federal government.

"All decisions, policies and ventures between Johor and Singapore can only be carried out if both the state and federal government is BN,” he said.

Meanwhile, Nur Jazlan said he is still undecided and remains with his previous stand on not contesting, despite the Chinese business community wanting changes in GE15.

"I am not yet convinced that the young Chinese can shake away their prejudice of being marginalised from BN’s policies.

"This is despite the fact that they have abundant opportunities for education and the economy, but in the end they themselves have been betrayed by PH,” he said.