Non-racial politics (revisited)

Racial extremism, is it what you want?

In the run-up to the Permatang Pauh by-election, Ahmad Ismail had said at a ceramah that the Chinese community were mere "squatters" in the country and thus were not entitled to be given equal rights in Malaysia.

Ahmad, who has refused to apologise for describing the Chinese as squatters in the country while campaigning in the recent Permatang Pauh by-election, claims his speech was taken out of context by the Sin Chew vernacular newspaper, which reported the incident in its Aug 25 edition.

Sin Chew stressed that Tan in her nine years of as a reporter has covered various political conferences and speeches and “no mistakes were ever made” in her writing.

(Sep 8): In an explosive 50-minute press conference, Ahmad vowed that he would not apologise for his remarks which sparked the controversy. The press conference, which was held at the Penang Umno headquarters, ended with shouts of 'Hidup Melayu' from about 50 local party leaders who were there.

Soon after the event, former Penang Umno committee member Zainol Abidin Hashim, with the help from his colleagues pulled down the photo of Gerakan acting president Dr Koh Tsu Koon which adorned one of the walls in the party headquarters. Koh's picture frame, which sat next to the photos of the Penang governor and his wife, was subsequently smashed.

As the glass broke into pieces, Zainol removed Koh's photo from the frame and tore it into half.