DAP denies involvement in chain SMS

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KUCHING: Democratic Action Party (DAP) had categorically denied that the party was behind the circulation of a chain message through short messaging system (SMS) that says “vote against the Barisan Nasional (BN) is a vote for Jesus”.

One of its leaders Teresa Kok, who is DAP national organising secretary and Selangor chairperson, said they would not do something that could cause uneasiness among people of other faiths.

“I read about and I don’t agree with this kind of SMS. This kind of message which can cause anger to other faiths is definitely not from us,” she said.

She said this when asked to comment on the SMS believed to be widely spreading around especially among the Christian community in the state.

The author of the SMS, among others, said that BN is an anti-Christ agent and that Christians are being discriminated and their rights in the constitution denied.

“Don’t vote for BN. Please send this message to 10 Christian voters,” the message reads.

Kok, who is also Seputeh MP, was met after a campaign spree at a hotel here Monday evening which was held in the name of ‘Fellowship With Christians’.

The session which lasted for about two hours and conducted by a local independent church called City Harvest and led by Pastor Kelvin attracted about 300 people, mostly from the Chinese community.

The ‘fellowship’ began and ended with brief praise and worship sessions while Kok utilised most of the time to deliver her political talk by quoting some verses from the Holy Bible.

Towards the end of her talk, she was joined by a Pakatan Rakyat (PR) colleague from Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) Khalid Samad.

Also present in the earlier part of the session were DAP candidates for Pending Violet Yong, Wong King Wei (Padungan) and Christina Chiew (Batu Kawah).

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud when asked to comment yesterday on the SMS issue only had this to say: “Do they (those circulating the messages) have the authority from Jesus?”

He was interviewed after having a dialogue session with Association of Churches Sarawak (ACS) at Pullman Hotel.

The Diocese of Kuching Reverend Datuk Bolly A Lapok, meanwhile said that someone had notified him about the chain SMS but he had not seen it personally.

“Someone told me about it but I have not read it myself.  Therefore it is unfair to comment on something that we have not personally seen,” he added.