JOHOR BARU: Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi has dismissed opposition claims that the Barisan Nasional (BN) delegation's visit to China was influenced by communist ideology.
The Johor State Assembly speaker said that the visit was to commemorate 50 years of Malaysia-China friendship.
He pointed out that the BN delegation had been specially invited to China annually, even during the presidency of Perikatan Nasional's Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the Bersatu secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin, who were both still part of Umno at the time.
"Bersatu filed a police report alleging that I and Umno are influenced by communist ideology. This stems from the BN visit to China to celebrate 50 years of Malaysia-China relations.
"This reflects the issues faced by those who joined Bersatu. They forget that Bersatu is also a political school, leading them to become 'foolish' upon joining.
"This includes the former Johor menteri besar Datuk Sahruddin Jamal. It's no surprise he served as Johor MB for only 10 months. He also made serious accusations, claiming that I would spread communist ideology in the Johor Assembly, implying that I have become a communist," he said in a post on his Facebook today.
Puad clarified that Bersatu might not realise that China had thousands of political schools, including in their municipal councils, equipped with five-star hotels.
He said that most conferences and discussions were held in classrooms at these political schools.
"We are not studying communist ideology. The topics discussed include China's modernisation, how China trains and selects leaders, and social media literacy. There is much to learn, with adaptations. What I mean is learning cadre techniques, not the ideology itself.
"During our visit to Tsinghua University (ranked 16th in the world) and Huawei, we were impressed by advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Electric Vehicles (EV), and Autonomous Driving technology developed in Shenzhen. There were no classes on communist ideology at all.
"Therefore, the accusation that Umno is influenced by communist ideology, particularly that I might propagate it in the Johor Assembly, is utterly outrageous," he said.
"Muhyiddin visited Beijing twice, in April 2011 and November 2014. How can simply attending a briefing on China's economic success warrant accusations of adopting communist ideology?" he said.
Today, PN filed a police report against Puad, claiming he led the party's leaders to China for an educational visit.
Sahruddin who is also Bersatu Johor state liaison chairman had expressed concerns that communist ideology might spread among Umno members and within the Johor Assembly.