PETALING JAYA: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has defended himself from being called a racist after saying that Malay leaders should not have apologised over an Umno leader's alleged racist remark.
Dr Mahathir said he was not defending Bukit Bendera Umno division chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail's statement nor did he like what Ahmad had said.
He explained that he was merely expressing his "disgust" over the Malay leaders' inability to control racism and the culprit should face the Umno disciplinary committee if he refused to apologise.
He added that Ahmad's statement did not contribute to lessening the tension between the races.
"It is degrading for the second highest leader in the Government to be apologising for every instance of improper behaviour by Umno members," Dr Mahathir said in his blog www.chedet.com posted on Friday evening at 6.32pm.
He was referring to the apology by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak made on behalf of Umno over Ahmad's remark.
Dr Mahathir however admitted that he knew he would be labelled a racist when he wrote that Malay leaders should not have said sorry.
The former prime minister came under fire after he wrote in his blog on Thursday that the Government, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and ministers were constantly apologising to the Chinese and Indians due to purported racist remarks by some Malay leaders.
He said non-Malay leaders never apologised when similar racist remarks were made by members of their community such as the Hindraf group and Wee Meng Chee, who made a parody of Negaraku and poke fun at the call for prayers.
He also said the Malays were so scared of being labelled racist that they even wrote in Malay papers that the Malays were not racists.
No comments:
Post a Comment