Another cow-head incident, another minister shows his lack of class

Blame Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi if you find Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi offensive, classless and an absolute duffer.

The former Umno Youth chief was consigned to political oblivion after resigning from the post, and was even detained under the Internal Security Act, after Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was sacked from the government in September 1998.

To those who have forgotten the illustrious history of Zahid, he was supposed to launch the attack against Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, accusing the then PM of cronyism and nepotism.

The attack did not take off and Dr Mahathir instead laid bare the hypocrisy of Zahid, showing how he had benefited from cronyism and how he had amassed millions of ringgit.

Zahid (pic) was politically dead until Abdullah brought him back into Umno and the government when he replaced Dr Mahathir as PM.

The rest as they say is history. Sadly. Zahid rose up the ranks and today is the home minister. What an irony? The man who allegedly beat the boyfriend of his daughter to pulp is now in charge of law and order.

He speaks like a thug; he can't differentiate when he should speak like an Umno man or the home minister, and is a daily reminder that Najib's XXL cabinet is full of incompetent individuals.

Today, instead of being disgusted and disturbed by the act of throwing a cow’s head in the compound of R.S.N. Rayer's home in Penang, he chastised the DAP man for having a loud mouth and said that he brought on the attack because he called Umno "celaka" in the state assembly recently.

Remember, this is the home minister speaking. It seems that he is endorsing the actions of those behind the cow-head incident.

He is speaking like another former home minister from Umno, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, who sympathised with his party-men after they paraded around an area in Shah Alam with a cow’s head in 2009.

Do you think that any individual or group is going to be discouraged from repeating this offensive action against other Hindus? Is it any wonder that in recent months, minority groups have had animal carcasses thrown into places of worship and other places?

There is little downside to these provocative actions for them. Get caught? When was the last time the police arrested anyone worth arresting?

It is easy to just say that this is about Rayer and that other Malaysians should not get too excited about what Zahid said. Too easy in fact.

Zahid's flippant comment once again demonstrates that many in the government can't tell right from wrong, and don't understand a fundamental fact of governing: that those in position of leadership must be colour-blind and impartial in carrying out their duties.

Zahid has shown that he is incapable of being an honest broker. He is an Umno man, nothing more. He is just an offensive and classless individual.

Just another gift handed down to Malaysia by Abdullah Badawi, much like the toothless Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the discredited judiciary.