Ismail Sabri falling for Umno’s own lies, says DAP lawmaker

Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob's "racist rant" on Facebook reveals that Barisan Nasional (BN) has spread so much untruth that they are falling for their own lies, says a DAP lawmaker.

‎Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua today said the Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister's postings – that Chinese businesses were hiking up prices and that restaurant chain ‎OldTown White Coffee was owned by Perak DAP adviser Ngeh Koo Ham – were spread by Umno media and supporters.

He added that they were not new and had been circulating for a year or two.

Pua, who is also DAP national secretary, said the "lies and untruth" had been repeatedly refuted, with Ngeh issuing statements to deny the allegation.

"It is not difficult to verify for example, who are the real owners of OldTown especially since the café chain is now a publicly listed company.
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"Empirical evidence will also testify that price hikes occur across the board whenever the cost of production or delivery increases, be they in the grocery shops, pasar tani, coffee shops or mamak outlets. Such increases are natural economic phenomena which cut across all races.

"Measures to tackle price hikes are to be implemented across the board and not by recklessly inciting hatred between races," he said in a statement.

‎He said Ismail Sabri was suffering from the "big lie" syndrome, referring to a Nazi propaganda coined by Adolf Hitler and later modified by his associate Joseph Goebbels, where one repeats a lie often enough to believe it.

He said this was not the first time such a syndrome had struck an Umno minister. Pua cited his own experience where Home Minister Datuk‎‎ Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told a press conference that he had been ‎charged in court for a criminal offence in Singapore.

He added that Zahid said to have evidence that he had released himself from the charges by striking a deal with the Singapore government, which included returning to Malaysia to do their bidding.
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"Such incredible tall tales came direct from the minister’s mouth after such allegations started surfacing on the World Wide Web.

“I had sued the Minister (and Utusan Malaysia) for defamation and Zahid had to embarrassingly retract his allegations as having utterly no basis in open court and pay costs for the suit in a settlement last August,” said Pua.

‎In his Facebook post, Ismail said Malay consumers had a role in helping Putrajaya fight profiteers by using their collective power to lower the price of goods.

‎"The majority of consumers are Malay, Chinese are a minority, if the Malays boycott their businesses, they will surely have no choice but to reduce their prices," he wrote on his Facebook page.

He also singled out the OldTown White Coffee chain owned by OldTown Bhd, saying Ngeh owned shares in the company.

"As long as the Malays don't change, the Chinese will take the opportunity to oppress the Malays," said Ismail.

Ismail later confirmed with The Malaysian Insider that he posted the statements on his Facebook account. – February 4, 2015.