"I was referring to what happened in Penang, where five (suspected) criminals were killed by the police, because according to information (obtained from police) intelligence (revealed) that (the suspects) were armed.
"I said that the statement by a deputy minister was that to fire warning shots before the actual ones. "I think that is not the SOP applied by the police because the (suspected) criminals were armed.
"Is the police only allowed to defend themselves after they are shot? If that is the case, surely a lot of police will die if we do so.
"What I have stated (in Malacca) was the readiness of the police because early information suggests that the criminals must be eradicated.
"To me, 'shoot first, ask questions later' does not arise. This is wild statement made by 'them'," he said.
Following this, the interviewer sought to confirm if the shooting happened after the intelligence gathering was "100 percent" sure that they were armed, to which Zahid replied in the affirmative.
Zahid added that some of the suspected criminals from the group that was shot in Penang had escaped to Perak but an operation against them had to be called off because women and children were present.
"Because we don't want collateral damage to others. We didn't highlight that. If we did, they will spin it into something else," he told Astro Awani in an interview today.
Challenge to Bar Council
Ahmad Zahid said the context of what he said would have been made clear if a certain news portal had published his controversial speech in its entirety.
Zahid was referring to Malaysiakini's report on Monday on his recent speech on Saturday in Malacca, where he ordered journalists not to report his speech, while threatening to close down any newspaper that did not comply.
During his speech, Zahid said Malays were often the victim of crime and that "the best way is not to compromise with them. Don't give them warnings. (Once) we have evidence, we shoot first."
This portion of the speech can be heard here, while the full recording of the speech can be heard here.
Although Zahid never made it explicitly clear at the time that the "shoot first" remark referred to the shooting in Penang, he did immediately segue into criticising deputy minister P Waythamoorthy for claiming that the police should have fired warning shots first.
However, Zahid claimed in his interview with Astro Awani that his criticisms against Waythamoorthy and the "shoot first" remark was intertwined.
During the interview, Zahid also challenged the Bar Council to take action against him under the Sedition Act 1948.
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