Chow, who is in charge of the local government portfolio, denied making that remark at his press conference last Friday.

“I never accused Teng of saying that.

“Watch the video clip of my press conference. It was uploaded online by Buletin Mutiara the same afternoon to prove that I didn’t say it,” he said.

Chow was responding to Teng, who accused him of playing the racial game over the recent enforcement action on Kaffa cafe, a Chinese-owned business, by the city council.

“I didn’t mention Teng’s name at the start. I only said the state BN chairman commented on the cafe issue, that it was an act of revenge against the owner,” Chow said.

He said he remarked that the council also demolished illegal extensions at the home of Penang Umno leader Ahmad Ismail last Thursday but Gerakan was quiet about it.

“At the end, I said Teng should hold a meeting to decide whether BN is saying we are anti-Malay or anti-Chinese,” Chow said.

He said if Teng had waited a little and saw the video clip of his press conference, he might have understood the issue.

Chow also said the DAP-led government had been portrayed as marginalising the Malays by Umno, and anti-Chinese by the other component parties over the years.

“So in this context, I asked him to decide what is what. Solve this paradox. One side says we are anti-Malay while the other says we are anti-Chinese.

He said the administration was previously accused of being anti-Malay and anti-Chinese when the council took action against unlicensed hawkers and illegal structures.

When the state gave money to vernacular schools, Christian missions and Islamic schools to help them with administrative costs, Umno said Penang was not helping national type schools while the other component parties kept quiet, he said.

“Umno also accused us of not helping Islamic institutions but based on statistics, we gave twice the amount BN gave when it was in power for the development of mosques and others. Land was also given for projects.

“Umno was quiet for a while but the other parties slammed us for giving more for Islamic development while neglecting the other religions,” he said.

When it came to housing for bumiputeras, Chow said the same tune was played to make the government seem racially bias.

When the state said it would use part of the RM100 million collected from developers to subsidise the price of units for bumiputera buyers, who qualify for the SP Chelliah affordable homes, the administration was accused of sidelining other races, he said.

“This is the political games played by BN over the years,” he said.