Agence France-Presse - 9/9/2008 12:28 PM GMT
Malaysia's premier insisted Tuesday that his multi-racial coalition would not be torn apart by a rift over a ruling party member's incendiary comments about ethnic Chinese.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also promised "stern action" against the politician who triggered the uproar, which highlighted tensions between majority Muslim Malays and the ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.
It has also triggered unprecedented criticism from Chinese-based parties within the Barisan Nasional coalition, which is led by Abdullah's United Malays National Organisation (UMNO).
Ahmad Ismail, an UMNO leader from northern Penang state, sparked the row by describing ethnic Chinese as "lodgers", and escalated the situation Monday with an outburst in which he warned the community not to seek political power.
"The patience of the Malays and Muslims has a limit. Do not push us to the wall, as when we turn back we will be forced to push the Chinese in the interests of our own survival," he told a press conference.
"The Chinese should not try to be like the Jews in America -- it is not enough they control the economy, now they want political control," he said.
Malays are dominant in politics in Malaysia, while ethnic Chinese are prominent in business. Past violence between the two communities has made discussion of racial issues extremely sensitive.
Abdullah said after a meeting of the coalition's Supreme Council that party leaders had expressed "regret and anger" over the comments and that UMNO would make a decision on Ahmad's fate on Wednesday.
"Immediate action will be taken because any delay could make more people angry... tough action will be taken," he told reporters.
However, he insisted Barisan Nasional "will remain united and we will face all the challenges together".
"You want to see BN falling apart? We will never allow that to happen. We are like a football team, we are very aggressive but we are aiming at one goal and we want to win," he said.
Ahmad was defiant as he left a meeting with the premier earlier, saying Malays were "frustrated" and that Malay "dignity" was at stake.
"Half the Chinese say I'm a racist but most Malays say I'm a nationalist defending my race," he told reporters.
"What I see now is a rise of the Malay people, and I feel we should capitalise on the strength, the support we get from the Malay people... I know they are with me."
Koh Tsu Koon, from the Gerakan party which bore the brunt of Ahmad's criticism, said he accepted the premier's assurances that the comments did not reflect the views of UMNO.
He said there had been a "commitment that this issue will not be repeated or allowed to happen again".
The row has erupted as opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim -- whose Keadilan party is the first pan-racial party in Malaysian political history -- attempts to woo the support of enough coalition lawmakers to topple the government.
In March elections he won a third of parliamentary seats, in the most serious challenge ever faced by the coalition, which has ruled for half a century.
http://news.my.msn.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment