SHAH ALAM - For Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, Islamist party PAS' obsession to criticise her was not simply a clash of ideologies.
While the DAP has always been at odds with the PAS, for Kok, PAS' supposed animosity towards her had even led to a defamation lawsuit, which she later had won.
Kok always attributes PAS' supposed confrontational attitude towards her simply because of her different faith and being a woman who held a high position previously with the Selangor state government and being a federal minister.
"I'm a woman, I'm a Christian, I'm from the DAP so all this have become issues. Last time, PAS said women cannot be candidates, a woman shouldn't hold a high position, women should just take care of their husbands and their kids, so all this is a difference of ideas, a difference of ideologies,'' she said in a recent interview with Sinar Daily.
However, Kok, a senior politician and being Seputeh incumbent MP since 2004 and even once before during the 1999 election, said she has always accepted criticism, even unwarranted ones on her fashion sense
"As a public figure, whatever I do, I say, I wear all will become an issue,'' she said in jest.
During the Pakatan Harapan administration, Kok was the Minister for Primary Industries and the DAP deputy secretary-general.
While the DAP has always been at odds with the PAS, for Kok, PAS' supposed animosity towards her had even led to a defamation lawsuit, which she later had won.
Kok always attributes PAS' supposed confrontational attitude towards her simply because of her different faith and being a woman who held a high position previously with the Selangor state government and being a federal minister.
"I'm a woman, I'm a Christian, I'm from the DAP so all this have become issues. Last time, PAS said women cannot be candidates, a woman shouldn't hold a high position, women should just take care of their husbands and their kids, so all this is a difference of ideas, a difference of ideologies,'' she said in a recent interview with Sinar Daily.
However, Kok, a senior politician and being Seputeh incumbent MP since 2004 and even once before during the 1999 election, said she has always accepted criticism, even unwarranted ones on her fashion sense
"As a public figure, whatever I do, I say, I wear all will become an issue,'' she said in jest.
During the Pakatan Harapan administration, Kok was the Minister for Primary Industries and the DAP deputy secretary-general.