Reject unhealthy campaigning, DAP tells voters after PAS leader zooms in on candidate’s vernacular school background

GEORGE TOWN, April 30 — DAP national chairman Lim Guan Eng has reminded Kuala Kubu Baru (KKB) voters to reject unhealthy campaign tactics that play on racial sentiments.

The Bagan MP said PAS information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari is playing with unhealthy sentiments by questioning Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Pang Sock Tao’s vernacular school background.

“It is regrettable that after challenging her about her SPM and UPSR examination results and she revealed she had scored excellent results, he turned around to question the background of her school and pointed out that she was from vernacular schools,” he said outside the Penang High Court today.

He said both UPSR and SPM are official government examinations that should not be disputed.

“Why does Ahmad Fadhli need to even raise the issue of which schools she attended? What mattered was that she achieved excellent academic results,” he said.

He said there were Malay parents who also sent their children to vernacular schools.

“Why make this an issue? I hope voters will reject such unhealthy sentiments,” he said.

He added that Pang is also a graduate of Universiti Tenaga Nasional with an electronic and electrical engineering degree.

“Voters should vote for someone like her, who is a professional, and who doesn’t play with racial sentiments but is a moderate candidate who represents all and accepts all races and religions,” he said.

Ahmad Fadhli had earlier challenged Pang to share her SPM and UPSR examination results, saying it “would be interesting to know”.

Pang responded by posting both of her examination transcripts, in which she scored 10 As in her SPM examination and seven As in UPSR, on her social media.

Ahmad Fadhli then “apologised” for his action, but claimed that Pang has now “revealed” that she went to a SJK(C).

The question over the academic qualifications of KKB candidates started when Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) Khairul Azhari Saut’s qualifications were scrutinised.

In an election poster, the Hulu Selangor Bersatu acting chief listed that he had an “executive diploma” in management from the University of Malaya in 2019 and an “executive master” of business management from Universiti Malaysia Pahang in 2021.

Khairul told his sceptics that his tertiary education qualifications were obtained locally and could be easily checked with the universities directly.