Ahmad: Why should I apologise?
By ANDREA FILMER [Source]

GEORGE TOWN: Bukit Bendera Umno division chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail has refused to apologise over his racist remark calling the Chinese community “immigrants who do not deserve equal rights”.

“Why should I apologise? I didn’t do anything wrong. Those who do wrong should apologise but I haven’t done anything,” Ahmad said when The Star met him outside his Bayan Baru office yesterday.

He, however, refused to comment on whether the press misquoted him.

Sounding calm and collected on the phone, he said a full statement on what transpired would be released after a Penang Umno liaison meeting tomorrow.
Man in the news: Ahmad gesturing as he replies to a question in Bayan Baru yesterday. He said he had been leading a sepak takraw team to a tournament in Bangkok.

He added that he would not say much at present, but wanted to clear up the issue of reporting to the police.

Police are currently investigating five reports lodged against Ahmad under the Sedition Act 1948 for uttering the remarks at a ceramah on the eve of the Permatang Pauh by-election.

He said there were reports of his going to the Bukit Mertajam police station on Wednesday night (to make a statement).

“I want to make it clear that I never told anyone or informed anyone that I would be there. It was their assumption,” he said.

Ahmad recorded a statement at the police contingent headquarters in Penang Road at about 10pm the same night while pressmen from television, online and print media were waiting for him on the mainland.

Asked where he had been over the last few days, Ahmad confirmed that he had been leading a sepak takraw team to a tournament in Bangkok.

“My phone has been on and off, but a lot of my anak buah (supporters) have been calling me, so maybe that’s why it has been hard to get through,” he said.

On the alleged misappropriation of funds involving now-defunct company Popular Profile Sdn Bhd (PPSB), Ahmad said he had resigned before any action was taken on the company.

“This issue has nothing to do with me. Action is taken on a company, not on a personal capacity. Moreover, I resigned from the company on Sept 1, 1998. What happened after that, I don’t know.

“The Chief Minister (Lim Guan Eng) shouldn’t be using his political muscle and power to attack me,” he said, adding that he would not say more on the land deal until he had checked the details.

Lim had recently attacked Ahmad on a 1997 land deal involving PPSB, in which Ahmad had been a director. Lim alleged that the company had cheated the state of RM500,000 in a deal involving 4.2ha of industrial land in Bukit Minyak.

Looks like somebody has been lying again. Is it me or do they really think we are immigrants and will never truly be treated as citizens? I read somebodies blog that said ,”Yes, they are really immagrants. Pay bus fair still called passenger what?“.  Are you really supprised he didn’t think it was wrong to say that?  So many generations of Chinese and Indians who have known no other country but Malaysia, paid years of taxes, poured out blood, sweat and tears in this nation to build it as it is and some people still call us imigrants? If this racist policy is truly not the UMNO policy then our PM should be a little more MAN and prove it. Or is he affraid that all those who hold this racist beleive will rebel against UMNO? And I am totally ashamed of the other BN component parties, who have traded the birth right of all us Malaysians of other races just to earn dollars in thier pockets. When will you truly represent your people! Malaysia does not belong to just one race of people. It belongs to every citizen. You don’t own the Bus. Jus soli (Latin for “right of the soil” or, somewhat figuratively, “right of the territory”), or birthright citizenship, is a right by which nationality or citizenship can be recognised to any individual born in the territory of the related state. Look it up.

On this day in History..

• It's official...My sister is the new face of "Bangsa Malaysia" - 2005
• Lunch @ Hot Mama - 2005
• Tie a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree... - 2005
• Hungry for some Asian food? - 2006
• Project Moving House.... - 2006
• A ManWich for Lunch - 2008

Tags: bn, citizenship, Malaysia, MCA, MIC, Nation, Paklah, racist, umno

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