- Penang state exco Wong Hon Wai urged politicians, particularly from PAS and Perikatan Nasional (PN), to stop politicising the brief stopover of two Chinese naval ships in Penang, which followed standard protocols.
- Wong highlighted that the ships, en route to Bangladesh for a goodwill visit, were received by local officials, including PN’s Gerakan president, and that similar visits by naval ships from various countries have occurred without issue.
- He clarified that Chinese students waving flags during the visit were part of a cultural exchange at a private school with international students, and the incident was misrepresented and blown out of proportion.
GEORGE TOWN, Oct 12 — Politicians from Perikatan Nasional (PN) — especially PAS — should stop politicising the brief stopover by two Chinese naval ships that docked in Penang last weekend, said state exco Wong Hon Wai today.
Wong said the not only were resident Royal Malaysian Navy officer of Penang and representatives of the state government present to receive the visit, but so was Datuk Dominic Lau Hoe Chai — the president of PN component Gerakan.
“There have been numerous attacks by PAS and PN leaders on this when it was only a brief stopover and in accordance with protocols,” he said in a press conference after launching “Road to Unesco - Nyonya Sarong Kebaya Exhibition” by Kenny Loh Couture here.
The tourism and creative economy committee chairman said the ships were actually on the way to Bangladesh, but had stopped over in Penang for a three-day goodwill visit.
Wong pointed out that navy ships from the United States, China, Korea, Japan and India have all docked in Port Klang, Kota Kinabalu and Malaysia’s various ports apart from Penang, and those were never an issue.
“As long as they follow protocol, there is nothing wrong,” he said.
He referred to a news report of sailors and Marine officers from the United States which visited a school in Kota Kinabalu in February 2019.
Last weekend, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy vessels Qi Jiguang and JingGangShan docked in Penang for a goodwill visit.
University students from the Naval University of Engineering China, who came in the naval ships, also visited SM Chung Ling (Private).
Pictures of the visits that were shared on social media sparked criticisms from the Opposition parties.
Wong said one of the ships, JingGangShan, was the same ship involved in the search operations for MH370 back in 2014.
“The ship was involved in the search operations in the South China Sea and Indian Ocean, covering 31,000km for 62 days at that time,” he said.
He said the whole issue of the navy ships’ visit was taken out of context and blown out of proportion.
As for pictures of SM Chung Ling (Private) students holding and waving the China flags, Wong said the school is a private school that has international students.
“I have asked the headmaster, they have a total of 1,900 students and more than 30 students are from China so those waving the PRC flags are students from China posing for the picture with the university students from the Naval University of Engineering China.
He said the private school has international intakes of students from Thailand, Indonesia, China and other countries, not only Malaysians.
He said there were also other pictures with Malaysian students who were holding the Malaysian flags, so people should not only focus on one with the mainland Chinese students.
Recently, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek also clarified that the navy did not visit the school and that it was an exchange of cultural and sports activities between university students from China and the school.
