“Racialising the economy is not going to provide the right answer,” the Kluang lawmaker told the news portal.

Liew was responding to statements made by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department that the people were too focused on the “Malaysian cake” while forgetting about the bigger “cake outside the country”.

Idris, who is also the CEO of the Performance Management Delivery Unit or Pemandu, also singled out the secular party and suggested it should “talk to the Chinese” about “producing Malaysian goods and services” that were “international market winners”.

Liew’s DAP colleague, Ong Kian Ming, meanwhile said the former Sarawakian senator was adding to the “trust deficit” in Malaysia by equating the DAP solely with the Chinese.

“When supposed technocrats start talking like politicians despite protestations that he was not a politician, the public gets even more sceptical,” the Serdang MP was quoted as saying.

Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim also criticised Jala for stereotyping DAP, stressing that the party was fighting for the wellbeing of all Malaysians regardless of their background, as well as for good governance across the board.

DAP’s concern, Sim said, was how the country and the economy was being managed by the ruling Barisan Nasional currently.

“Who gets government contracts is not our concern, even more so which race she or he is, but rather how government contracts are being awarded,” the Malay Mail Online reported him as saying.