Zahid didn't say non- Malays 'arrogant' but... - Malaysiakini

 

After coming under fire for allegedly calling non-Malays “arrogant”, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said yesterday that his speech was taken “out of context”.

In fact, a check of the audio transcript by Malaysiakini revealed that he did not use the word “arrogant”.

Nor did Zahid specify whom he was referring to when he said in his speech at the Segambut Umno annual general assembly that some people are "indebted".

However, he did agree with Segambut Umno chief Kamaruddin Embok, who at the same event lamented that “non-bumiputera” individuals were growing more “insolent” towards Malays and Islam.

“What was raised by Kamaruddin is something that comes from the hearts of the Umno grassroots members nationwide.

“What he read out (in his speech) is a handful of many posts that not only insult Umno, but Malays and Islam.

“This insult is ongoing in the name of democracy, openness, liberalisation and globalisation,” Zahid said in the speech, which he later accused theSun of misinterpreting.

In his speech, Zahid also told reporters from the Chinese language media to report Kamaruddin’s speech “properly”.

“This is our fate. They can read Bahasa Malaysia, but can we read Mandarin? We can’t… But remember, many in our police and military intelligence officers can read Mandarin.

“Don’t ever think that we don’t know how to pick up news in any language.  We are monitoring closely,” Zahid warned.

'Price of being nice'

Speaking in general terms, the home minister later said that what society faces today is “the price of being too nice”.

“This is the price we have to pay for our liberal policies, for being open, for allowing people to be indebted to us without the need to pay,” he said.

Earlier, Kamaruddin in his speech said Malaysia is now littered with “greedy” people who have “forgotten their roots”.

“Since 2008, inter-racial unity is in tatters. They - forgive me for saying this - the non-bumiputera have become more rude and insolent (biadap dan kurang ajar),” he said.

Kamaruddin said that while the government’s vision is for Malaysia to become a developed nation by 2020, the “rude quarters” have a different goal.

“They dare to insult Malays, leaders, royalty, Islam and our prophet. Why? Because Malays are not united. Now, there are even Malays joining DAP and DAP uses Malays,” he said.

He then read out a list of Facebook postings, allegedly by non-bumiputera individuals, maligning Islam.

For example, Kamaruddin said, one of them likened fasting Muslims to “starving dogs” and described Islam as a “deviant” religion.

“I apologise, I don’t mean to say this but he wrote this: ‘F**k Islam’. Can we accept this? Datuk Seri (Zahid), there has been no action on this case,” he said.

theSun’s report quoting Zahid as saying that non-Malays are arrogant and ungrateful to Malays has led to an outcry, including among BN leaders.

However, Zahid said his remarks were not directed to all non-Malays, just at those involved in DAP.