|
Umno suspends Ahmad three years |
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, 10 September 2008 06:18pm |
|
 ©The
Star (Used by permission)
KUALA LUMPUR: Umno has suspended Bukit Bendera division chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail
three years over his alleged racist remarks about the Chinese.
The decision was reached at a special meeting of the Umno supreme council held
at the PWTC Wednesday afternoon. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
chaired the meeting that lasted almost three hours.
Abdullah told a press conference after the meeting that Ahmad would also be
stripped of all party posts.
He also said that the Cabinet at its meeting Wednesday also discussed racial
relations in the country.
“The Cabinet feels that racial tension may arise if sensitive issues are raised.
The Cabinet has ordered ministries with laws pertaining to this to enforce them.
“If it is necessary, the ISA may be used on those who stoke racial tension,” he
added.
Abdullah also told Barisan Nasional component parties to be firm and take
disciplinary action on their members, who also made statements that stoked
racial sentiments.
The meeting was held after Barisan component parties said they wanted “immediate
and stern action” to be taken against Ahmad during a meeting of the coalition’s
supreme council on Tuesday afternoon.
However, because it involved a party matter, they left it to Umno to act.
The Prime Minister had said on Tuesday that the issue had caused uneasiness,
worry and anger among the people.
“Some (component parties) expressed their disappointment over what transpired
while some showed anger.
“All of us are of the view that Ahmad’s comments are not acceptable at all. What
he said has caused anger and concern among the people, non-bumiputras and
bumiputras alike, not just in the peninsula but also in Sabah and Sarawak,”
Abdullah told reporters on Tuesday.
Ahmad stirred a hornet’s nest recently when he said in a speech while
campaigning for the Permatang Pauh by-election that the Chinese were immigrants
in the country and did not deserve equal treatment.
Despite criticisms from various community leaders, he refused to apologise.
 |
News 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Circular No 297/2008
Let us hope that this poses the element of closure for the entire episode. Whether the punishment meted out is adequate or not is, at best, subjective.
It is best to let sleeping dogs lie, although I believe that the Sedition Act should have been thrown at him and his ilk if the law is to be shown to be neutral and general in its application and equal in its treatment of all citizens.
The entire episode actually does not speak well for our nation-building efforts. Our efforts in this direction require an urgent review.
Stephen Tan Ban Cheng
This posting is humbly dedicated to my family friend, the late Dr Ooi Kee Saik, who was the first to face the Sedition Act in the early 1970s. Along with him was also my good friend, Mr Fan Yew Teng, who lost his elected seat as well as his Federal and State pensions.
Stephen Tan Ban Cheng