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Wee Meng Chee – will Umno Ministers/leaders now apologise to Malaysians offended by their extremist reactions?

Wee Meng Chee, 24-year-old undergraduate, has issued an open apology to Malaysians offended by his six-minute Negarakuku video rap, which as of this morning, has been accessed more than 1.5 million times on YouTube sites put up by others as Meng Chee had removed the video clip from his blog several days ago.

Three questions that immediately arise are:

  • Will UMNO Ministers and leaders who have persecuted and demonized Meng Chee by making irresponsible, extremist and seditious statements, and even demanding the stripping of Meng Chee’s citizenship, now publicly apologise to all Malaysians offended by them;
  • Will Umno Ministers who had been guilty of keris-waving in circumstances and context contemptuous of the legitimate sensitivities and rights of all Malaysians publicly apologise to all Malysians offended by them?
  • Will MCA Ministers and leaders publicly apologise for failing to draw attention of the Umno leaders to the expression of patriotism by Meng Chee in articulating the frustrations of the ordinary rakyat at police corruption, civil service bureaucracy, discrimination against Chinese education and the insensitivity of the authorities — which is the reason why his rap video had struck such a deep chord among Malaysians particularly among the young generation?

67 Replies to “Wee Meng Chee – will Umno Ministers/leaders now apologise to Malaysians offended by their extremist reactions?”

  1. I find it hard to accept his apology because it doesn’t sound sincere to me. The apology was forced out of him under duress and threats against his family. With the media twisting his words and blinded politicians rallying against him, I can’t blame him for succumbing to the pressure.

    How different is this from cases where police beat an innocent man to force him to admit to a crime he did not commit? Similar to a judge who will not accept a guilty plea if the defendant doesn’t fully understand the charges against him, I will not accept his apology since he has done nothing wrong.

  2. “Apology”. A word not in their vocabulary. They don’t understand the meaning of this word.

    Besides, they are very sensitive people and might be easily offended if the word is used on them.

    Poor Meng Chee made to apologise because of veiled and unveiled threats against him.

    I understand MCA especially its President has been praised for getting him to “withdraw”.

  3. MEng Chee,

    Go write another song but pls dont use the flag as backdrop.

    DO it more subtle but we smart fellas will still get ur message.

    Only numbskulls and imbeciles will hv to dig deep to faham. Only sensitive ppl will cry and shout and jump like monkeys and report to FIL.

  4. How could our leaders condone death threats and gross intimidation made against an INDIVIDUAL and his family? He is not associated with any criminal/political parties.

    The culture of violence is very strong…..dispute and disagreement are resolved by threats, intimidation and, may be, violence.

  5. This is quite obviously a political solution that was presented to him. It’s fairly obvious to whomever that is familiar with the situation to spot the flaws in the official apology.

    1) The video was hosted on YouTube, not his blog.
    2) He had already removed the YouTube video ages ago, when troubles first started.
    3) The word blog/blogger was used several times, when blogs/blogging had nothing to do with it.
    4) The English sounds too politically exact to have come from him.

    But I do agree with LKS, this issue was drummed up by UMNO for some reason. I guess that it’s just the coming GE. If namewee had presented the video after the GE, he might not have gotten into any trouble. Most people probably wouldn’t even have noticed it.

  7. APOLOGY NOT ACCEPTED…..

    Nothing was offending or seditious

    UMNO-BN racist Bigots have not EVEN apologise to Lina Joy for not respecting Allah’s Given right to mankind to choose a religion of their Personal Choice that is Guranteed in the Constitution and Rukun Negara…..Who the Hell is NRD or Syriah to play a part in one’s freedom of Choice…..might as well throw the who Constitution into the drain when Belief in God Rukun Negara have been violated!!….the battle continues….

  9. I guess if my family was threatened by the mafia, I too would eat humble pie and apologise. What Meng Chee did was nothing compared to what our unpatriotic leaders were doing…waving keris and threatening to run amok, making seditious statements about Malaysia being Islamic, separating children from their parents, failing to uphold the law and consitution, failing to protect the public from dangerous criminals etc…the list is endless. Are these leaders going to apologise to the rakyat for their failings..no, why, bcos they think they are above the law! Thats the state our country is in…bully the average person while the guilty get away with ‘murder’.

  10. An apology is not an apology when it is demanded and not spontaneous and willing. I believe Namewee did it out of coercion and reluctance just to get himself and his family out of this ordeal. The UMNO primates are experts in soliciting apologies. UMNO memang boleh lah. Still remember when LKY “apologized”? Our brainless govt thought he had actually apologized when he merely did it to quell the situation. He did not retract his words because he was adamant that Chinese in Malaysia are marginalized. Likewise, here we have our friend echoing what LKY said. It’s a similar scenario with a different whistle blower.

  11. Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin said that Malaysians should be magnanimous in accepting an apology by Negarakuku rapper Wee Meng Chong as his MTV-style online video which mocked the national anthem was due to his ignorance. He was himself “magnanimous” because the apology had proven the point that UMNO was the abiter of what was offensive or not offensive on behalf of everyone else and upon its view being make known that its offensive, the offender would have to apologise and be contrite and bow before its pressure if he were not to visit upon himself greater punishment from the authorities that only UMNO could bring to bear on any person (except perhaps RPK so far….)

  12. I guess UMNO should be the first to apologize to Namewee and his family for causing so much of trauma and unrest to them. Secondly, UMNO should not only apologize to Malaysians for raping and plundering the nation but also recompense the losses suffered by the poor and needy. Why only condemn the rapping and not the raping? (Pardon the pun) If you want the rapping to cease, then the raping should not exist in the first place, Rape cases happened under their nose and yet the MATA chooses to turn a blind eye towards it. On the contrary, there is only one or two rap cases which occurred in cyberspace and yet the govt is so damn observant and concerned. It really baffles me to think about this. How on earth did UMNO understand the meaning when the rap is sung in Chinese? Who translated the entire content to them? It must be the MCA poodles who let the cat out of the bag. What traitors to the Chinese community!

  13. What Meng Chee’s case had shown us is that Malaysian are not allowed to speak the truth, no matter where you are, no matter what medium you use.

    Does this means that if I were to speak the truth for my beloved country, I have to change my Nationality to do so ?

    This is heart breaking.

  15. In fact Meng Chee need not apologise at all. He is telling the truth of the government.
    Oh yes, those UMNO guys will not apologise even though they are obviously wrong. They are only good in finding faults wiith others. The tahi in their own eyes they can’t see, but they can see in others eyes when in fact it is not there.
    This is the very reason why our nation will not progress with those UMNO guys running the country.
    It take HRH Sultan of Selangor and Nazri to tell them something is very wrong in the country. But as usual, they think that they are still right.
    Let us hope more rulers come out to point to Pak Lah his mistakes.

  18. remember when Mahathir was PM, he always say to the Amalikan that the they should get to the ROOT of the problem if they want peace in Mid East, the same analogy can be used here, they must find the ROOT problem y NAM WEE created that song! hidup negara ku ku ku …..

  19. So did they forced the Australian Michael Backman to apologize for writing the Boleh or Bodoh article? Aren’t we the Boleh and all-mighty ones?
    Here’s an Interview with him after his Boleh and Bodoh article.
    =========================================
    Interview with Michael Backman:
    1. What was the initial thought that prompted you to write about your “Boleh or Bodoh column”? What was and has been your intention in writing the article?

    Malaysia has good people, good resources and a legal system that ought to function. It depresses me that Malaysia hasn’t been more successful than it has and that it is still fighting the old fights of the 1960s.

    Malaysia ‘s Chinese have accepted the NEP and its successor policies. They define themselves as Malaysians first and foremost and are among the proudest Malaysians. They have learned Malay. Essentially, they have done everything that has been required of them and yet still there is this endless preoccupation with race in Malaysia.

    Meanwhile the rest of the world is just so unbelievably dynamic now. Malaysia is looking more and more like a sleepy backwater relative to what’s going on elsewhere in the world.

    Many Malaysians don’t seem to understand this. Many like to travel overseas – but when they do, too many look but they don’t see. They don’t see how things in Malaysia could be improved. They don’t want to learn from anywhere else. They think Malaysia is a special case. They should be bringing back new ideas to Malaysia. Instead they just want to bring back duty free.

    2. Have you ever considered the impact the column might have upon your relationship with Malaysian government and its people? We understand Rafidah Aziz, Malaysia’s Minister for Trade and Industry, criticised your column by saying you probably know nothing about Malaysia . Has there been any (positive or negative) impact/response from publishing the column?

    I write to be read and I write to have an impact, otherwise there is no point in writing. I criticised the space program for Malaysia’s first astronaut – the making of teh tarik and so on – and the Malaysian Government changed its mind on that and announced that the astronaut would be doing sensible scientific experiments after all. Perhaps I had an impact there.

    In any event, more than a thousand Malaysians e-mailed me to say that they agreed with my views. If I am giving a voice to those Malaysians who share the same views but feel that they can’t express them then I’m happy to have been of some help.

    But then why should I as a non-Malaysian comment about Malaysia? As far as I am concerned, strict notions of nationality are breaking down. We are all involved in each other’s countries now. Malaysians have a lot of investments in Australia. Australians invest in Asia and so on. We all have stakes in other countries and so all should be able to comment on how they are run. The free flow of ideas and openness are good things. The only people who do not like this are politicians in Malaysia and Singapore. You will never hear Australian or UK politicians complaining about those things. So you should ask yourself, why do Malaysian and Singaporean politicians dislike public debate and openness?

    As for Rafidah, I know quite a lot about Malaysia. And I know quite a lot about Rafidah, which is why I wrote about the corruption allegations against her in my second column. Rafidah understands her trade brief very well, but she is dictatorial. Look at how she rules UMNO Wanita.

    Sadly, I suspect I know more about Malaysia than many Malaysians. One reason for this is because Malaysia’s media is so poor and many things cannot be discussed openly. Ministers like Rafidah would prefer that Malaysians are not told things. Perhaps they have something to hide.

    There is an idea among Malaysians that their country is particularly special and unique and that non-Malaysians simply cannot know much about Malaysia. That simply isn’t true. All countries are complex and have their nuances. You can be expert in a country without being from that country. Indeed, sometimes it helps not to be from that country. If more Malaysians sent more time away from Malaysia, they would gain a far clearer picture of what Malaysia is and what it is not.

    I have met many Malaysian politicians and business people, spent time in almost every Malaysian state, sat through sessions of the Malaysian parliament and even attended an UMNO general assembly, stayed in kampongs, visited rubber plantations, and so on – that’s more than most Malaysians. I have stayed with Malaysian friends in Damansara, in Ampang and in Pandan Jaya. But Rafidah only stays in Damansara.

    3. We understand you’re an expert on Asia ‘s political and economical affairs. But you seem to have taken an extra interest in Malaysia (like having a special column for Malaysia ‘s articles on your webpage
    ( http://www.michaelbackman.com ). Why Malaysia ?

    I studied at an Australian university. Many of my classmates were Malaysian students – Chinese, Malay and Indians. I became very interested in Malaysia from that time on.

    4. After reading the column, one can hardly not to think that Malaysia is a somewhat badly “managed” country. We know it might be a big question, but what do you think has contributed to the “mismanagement”of the country?

    It is not all bad news. Malaysia has handled race relations well. The NEP with all its imperfections was good for Malaysia . But Malaysia is rich in resources and there is a lot of squandering of those resources.

    Education is big part of the problem. Malaysian schools are not nearly good enough. There are Malaysians who are now very regretful and resentful that they attended school in Malaysia. Some have told me that they have spent a lot of their adult lives trying to undo the damage of rote learning and ‘follow the leader’-type training that they were given in Malaysia.

    Malaysian schools are a long, long way behind schooling in the West in which emphasis is very much on learning how to question, be creative and not being afraid to publicly voice your opinions. When I was at school in Australia I was encouraged to write essays in which I took the opposite view to my teachers. And the more I argued against my teachers’ positions on things such as social and political issues, the higher the grades that I received. Malaysian schools need to become like this.

    5. From the top of your head, what would you rank as the most wasteful projects/policies ever implemented by Malaysia Government in the past 10 years, and why?

    Proton – Malaysia should NOT have a national car. You cannot get sufficient economies of scale with a population as small as Malaysia’s when it comes to car manufacturing
    Putrajaya – removing civil servants from ordinary society does not make for good government
    KLIA – all that infrastructure, very little air traffic and it still takes forever for your luggage to come though – it is ridiculous
    Petronas Towers – the lower floors are mostly full of lift shafts – you can’t rent out a lift shaft

  20. “Does this means that if I were to speak the truth for my beloved country, I have to change my Nationality to do so ?”

    It’s all futile. Look at how bn (or more accurately, the crying-clown rafidah) respond to Michael Backman or Thierry Rommel.

    “What do we care? Obviously, this person doesn’t know Malaysia. He is an outsider and he can say what he likes. I don’t really care about what others say – as long as it is not a Malaysian saying it,”
    Quoted from http://www.midnitelily.com/archives/2006/11/malaysia_bodoh_downplay.html

    If you’re a foreigner, then you don’t know Malaysia. If you’re a Malaysian, then you’ll be locked under ISA. For bn, nobody is allowed to speak the truth.

    Vote them out is the only way.

  22. malaysia is really dangerous place for everyone…. i mean you cannot joke for fun anymore.

    if next time a non-chinese try to call me cina babi, i am going to tell him off, is your religion teach you to scold people ah! why you say babi? you so scare of babi why you still call me babi? i am a human being why you call me babi? you don’t like babi why you mention babi, why you insult me babi? are you trying to insult me or all the chinese…in malaysia and also around the world? your religion teach you like this meh? you are religious since you were born, you suppose to be very good, very kind, why call me babi? i don’t have name for you to call me, why babi? if i call you babi, you like it meh? i am not lazy, i am hard working, don’t you dare call me babi. you don’t just hurt me, you hurt my grandfather, you hurt my grandmother, my father, my mother, my friends here and everywhere……… fook you, fook you! fook you you! ini negara ku, negara ku, negara ku, ku!

  23. What UMNO fails to realize that they brought publicity to this Malaysian rapper which would have cost any other singer seeking publicity in the hundreds of thousands!

    The lyrics are harmless, does not humiliate anybody or the country, is not offensive though his use of the national flag may be criticized.

  26. any movie maker wanting to show it’s a malaysian product, will naturally use a malaysian flag or a malaysian landmark.

    if his movie is bad, then its bad…., if his movie is good, it’s good…. you can criticize or comment.

    calling to strip the citizenship of a film producer because of his low class production using malaysian national symbols is like calling to strip off the citizenship of the footballers that lost 5-1 in an international match recently wearing malaysian name.

    if one interpret things your way so can people.

    by the way, can we strip an aborigines or a bumi off his citizenship? if not, what about half turkish or half arab?

    aiyah, headache… everybody can interpret his way, just like somebody said, we have a malay pm, indian pm, why can’t we have a chinese pm…. well, you interpret your own way.

    betul betul headche!

  27. It is like a dog and cat game. When the dog shows it ferocity to a cat it encountered, the cat will timidly keep quiet and silently quickly run away. How to fight back with all the might of a dog? Ponder about this.

  28. It is impossible to ask UMNO to apologize when they have nothing to lose.

    Go every corner of the country and tell people to vote for Opposition and reduce their elegant. And Tun Mahathir just said Malay’s vote is RM200 only. We must tell all Malays that their vote worth RM2,000 (or more?). Think NCER worth BILLIONS, divide by the population in north, and you can see the figure is not RM200 each person. Can someone do a math? This can be a strategy to make UMNO harder to justify vote buying.

  30. What the govt failed to realize is that by demonizing him publicly, it is putting him in the media limelight for all the right reasons. More and more innocent people would get exposed to the truth that comforts the victims and hurts the predators. Besides, this would inspire many more young talents to emulate his example. I believe in the near future, more and more raps like negarakuku would suddenly mushroom by leaps and bounds. The only way to curb such phenomenon is to prove the rappers wrong by doing the opposite of what they accuse the govt of.

  31. Stripping him of his citizenship ? So what is this Bangsa Malaysia ? There is no Bangsa Malaysia. There is only Bangsa Melayu. And yet MCA, Gerakan and all the Chinese political parties under Barisan Nasional are standing behind UMNO. For what ? To betray your fellow Chineses ? No wonder we are like beggars to these Malays. We have to beg from them. We have to make them happy. We have to dance to their tune. Before they give us anything. And this is Islam Hadhari. There is no quality at all if things are one sided. And Dato Zainuddin Mydin was saying that DAP is trying to get Namewee to join its’ party. DAP is for everyone. Same also for Barisan Nasional which is for everyone. I don’t believe that supporters of Barisan Nasional do not have ill feelings towards their own party. What you call it ? Political desperado. So desperate that you wish to make a scapegoat out of Namewee as a lesson for all the Chineses in Malaysia. In this case, Melayu alone celebrate their proud Merdeka Day. The rest just go home and rest during the holiday. Don’t bother to take part in the Merdeka’s celebrations because those are not for you. It is time you all wake up instead of sleep away like our sleeping prince.

  33. That’s is why we are ever so grateful for ppl like Bakri Musa and Micheal Backman. The more they taruk UMNO the better. LEt the whole world know our many millionaires and billionaires are corrupted. There is truly no honor. Let these ppl abroad know that whenevr these corrupted goons go for their lavish holidays using our money, the ppl there can scorn at them.

  34. I am not sure this young man really apologised. All we see is his father at a press conference with MCA’s Dr Chua making the so called apologies. Maybe his father was threatened or coerced into making the apologies on his behalf and being the good son that he is, he does want to shame his father by disagreeing with the apology.

    If indeed he did make the apology, then the MCA eunuchs has done the greatest disservice to the people. When UMNO leaders and members brandished the keris and threatened the non Malays, did we hear MCA asking them to apologise? Why the double standards and against your own people whom you claimed to protect? Is this not a sellout?

    All this boy did was to highlight the truth on the Internet what the people has been saying in private for a long time. We have so many BN ministers jumping on him threatening all kinds of actions. Yet I do not see a single BN minister criticising any of the civil servants whose gross negligence allowed the much summoned bus driver and bus company to continue to operate despite their offences thus resulting in the death of 20 people and injuring scores of others. Get your priorities right!!!

  35. Our country is just like the bus that plunged into the ravine in Bukit Gantang near Taiping. We had a sleepy driver and after 20 innocent lives had been lost, there is a lot of hoo hah but all these will die down after sometime until history repeats itself. This is Malaysia Boleh and the Negara ku ku is a fitting tribute to the country but ironically he has to apologize for singing the truth.

  36. This is a typical case of bullying by those group of fanatics aided by their bodek carriers the MCA.They are using threats and strong arm tactics like pressuring the family to extract an apology for an act which is clearly not seditious but interpreted seditious by them.Essentially what he is venting is common knowledge to everyone here or to anyone who is familiar with Malaysia’s story.And even if the act is seditious it is not carried out in Malaysian soil and out of its jurisdiction.So what’s the hue and cry for?

  37. Namewee’s case has made my eyes open. The reason why they were mad because namewee’s song is totally right about them, brutal but true.

    So, someone at elsewhere suggested to live together with them in this country is just keep quiet or else get out from here, this is pathetic, it also proves that for them, of cause, there’s no need to change anything, because everything is comfortable for them, if we are them we sure think the same..

    And then, some fellas over namewee’s forum do not know understand why we are complianing or even compared us to mat Indon and Bangla, this is so sad, we built this country together for over 50 years and we are only foreign workers to them??

    Their mindset are totally unnccepatable, no wonder Doctor M. tears about this last time..

    So, this is another case of sort of “closed”, the national policy won’t change, i am hoping to teach them a lesson in forthcoming election, if majorotiy of Chinese community vote for DAP, will it be enough to beat UMNO, i wonder. If not then, i prefer to migrate coz i already dissappointed alot here..

    But i hope one thing request on DAP, please do not team up PAS or whatever, you and me know the reason..

    Thanks and majulah DAP untuk Negara!

    Thanks.!

  38. They are the Masters and you are the Slaves. So do not expect any apology from them for they can do no wrong. This is the price we have to pay for abetting them to seek Merdeka from the British. The MCA had sold out the Chinese and will continue selling until only the bones are left.

  39. No wonder the artistic, creative and imaginative talents of Malays’ are dying.

    You could watch a black and white movie of P. Ramlee numerous times without getting bored……this Malay guy with others are genius, their movies are timeless and all races enjoyed the movies including those who could not speak and write Malay!

    Like other issues, including religion, this issue is an excuse to maintain power and wealth at all costs.

  42. We’re getting more rotten. In P.Ramlee’s movies, we can laugh about each other.

    Since when we have lost the humour???

    The Chinese are not perfect la. Day work, night work. Weekend work. Also don’t know for what. Go holiday also work. Sleep also dream of work. (This is not attributing to all Chinese).

    We need back the joy, laughter and humour being in togetherness.

    What about Lat’s cartoons? We can’t even laugh about those anymore now?

    Now, we’re down to all these you scratch my back, I scratch your back, give you some bread crumbs kind of thing.

    Wong Meng Chee was forced to do confession and appology. That was the compromise met to ensure safety for him and his family. This is like olden day China’s emperor who can dictate the whole family be beheaded for the ‘sins’ of a member.

    YouTube is not a blog. He pulled his video clip down, many more different versions and new ones will go up. And not necessarily posted by Malaysians.

  47. They can prosecute all the want. The fact is the file gets more and more popular. Every kid is singing along on their mobile. Why? They are the rap song has many questions that they have been asking. It is so sad that truth really hurts.

  48. When LKY said Malaysian Chinese were marginalized by government in Education and Economy…UMNo was not happy…. and said there is no truth in this statement… and would hurt Malaysian Chinese feelings..

    But now an ordinary Malaysian Chinese told the truth in his ‘NEGARA KUKU’ song which confirm what LKY said….. they are angry too.

    It is not what said by LKY that hurt Malaysian Chinese…. but what done by the present ruling government that hurt the Chinese and Indian

  49. it;s time for MCA to show some backbone.
    This is a trivial issue( perhaps released at the wrong timing) made big to “blow smoke” on the bigger issues. Election is coming. They will make this into a much bigger issue and you can bet what propaganda agenda(the most debated items) they will have for the election.

  50. well, now that the Cabinet is not accepting his apologies…. is he suppose to withdraw his apologies as well? Looks like MCA’s puppet show has no effect and the cabinet is playing hardball. Well, looks like they are proceeding with potential criminal charges, what is MCA going to do now? This is just a big slap on the face for MCA….. now what is the “More Cowardly Act (MCA)” people going to do next? More puppet show to fool the Chinese?

  51. See what the Nazri the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said… “Wee’s apology could be used as mitigation in sentencing but not as a reason to not prosecute him.”

    Hell… the whole thing of asking Wee to apologize is just another set up and our MCA (Marginalized Chinese Association) actually help them to pressure Wee to apologize. MCA should change name to MCMA better la… Marginalized Chinese More Association. And better add a ® or TM sign cause to protect the copyright of the name. Don’t think there is any so call Chinese bodies in the world that marginalized Chinese more than MCA themself. Bravo…

    They are so ‘motivated’ to bring down Wee for disrespectful of national anthem, disrespectful of religion, sedition and etc. Well, I didn’t see them doing much action towards those keris waving seditious minister, those who approved tearing down of chinese and hindu temple or those Malay who said pork is ‘Najis’. Isn’t that disrespectful to other religious as well?

  52. UMNO apologize? Yeah right.. They don’t have the emotional intelligence for it.

    They are not even smart enough to walk away from this issue. Instead they are lame to try and exploit to be the bigger gangster than the other guy for election purposes.

    The PM knows there is limited gain he can make with the Chinese votes. He pulled a Mahathir by lying about his promises in the first election. He knows he can’t do it again this time. So he has to go back to the hard-core Malay voters, who still feel economicly left out in the current rally, and use Chinese as the bogeyman, another Mahathir old trick. The emperor has taught the dark one well…

  53. Now these rightist UMNO still using their favourite rap song .. call a dog bad .. call a dog mad ..kill it, Namewee had other option seek political asylum if these UMNO extremist put a price to his head.

  56. jeff,

    if for real, that masak cina association might as well masak somewhere…. chef without kitchen in the bn cabinet.

    tepi gua ingat, this is what chinese called, pull cat’s tail, this is “a kick and a cake tactic” of bn…. wait till they become kitchen hero and Masak Cinapek Again.

    long live the unimals in Beast Nest!

  57. cherasusie It’s for real – the Masak Cina Association you talked about will be screwed in the coming election on this issue on how their mitigation of Wee’s cause has been ignored by UMNO in this master-servant relationship within the so called power sharing coalition…..that we all know who has the power and who the mere pretender!

    Lets have the unvarnished truth in reporting. On the issue of Cabinet’s acceptance or non-acceptance of Wee Meng Chee’s apology – who is now doing to spin?

    According to front page of The Sun August 17, it was stated in caption – “Cabinet cannot accept apology and rapper who mocked Negaraku must face music”. It was reported: “The Cabinet decided on Wednesday it is not in position to accept student rapper Wee Meng Chee’s public apology to the government and Malaysians for parodying the national anthem…” The PM was further reported to have said, “since he made an apology, it is fine, but the process of law has to take place and what is wrong has to be corrected”. Otherwise it “would set a precedent where someone can get away from the law just by apologizing – this is an offence against the nation,” he added.

    It is very clear to me that the ordinary grammatical meaning of what was said – especially directing investigation – means and is intended to mean that the Cabinet neither forgave Wee nor accepted the apology.

    Compare this to what was reported in N3 Star Nation of August 17th. The caption was “Student must face the law…..Cabinet, however accepts his apology!”

    The Star (ultimately owned by MCA) reported : “The cabinet has accepted the apology by student Wee Meng Chee….However the Prime Minister said the law would have to take its course”.

    The Star’s reporting of what PM said was different in nuance: “He (Wee) said he wants to apologise, we can accept.But is an offence, how tyo let him go withoutr being punished? The law must take its course..”

    I would like to ask Star reporters Devid Rajah and VP Sujata how could the cabinet accept Wee Meng Chee’s apology and yet the PM could say that investigations should commence against Wee?

    On the lower left hand part of the page there was further reporting – MCA to continue assisting Wee over rap video mistake.

    I call on the MCA to try harder and if you fail you better leave the coalition and join the DAP!!! :)

  58. MCA, consider this. Your Senior Partner has allowed you to intervene, mitigate the fall out and get Wee’s father to prevail on his son to give an unconditional apology with the object as any average Malaysian will understand the situtation, to diffuse the issue and let Wee off on grounds that he is young and perhaps misguided on certain sentivities, there being no good that will come out of treating him an offender under criminal law of sedition…

    But after leading you up the primrose path your Senior Partner turns around and say, lets proceed with prosecution against the very young person you have sponsored the Cause to get Wee’s apology with the earlier tacit and implied approval of your senior partner that it would end the controversy and save you face from the wrath of your constitutency.

    Now what happens? People don’t give you any face and don’t care how you look in the eyes of your constitutency. What is important is how they look in the eyes of their constitutency. What have you got to say for yourself in defence for staying? Have you no pride? Are crumbs worth it?

  59. YB,

    I urge you to hold MCA to task on this issue.

    How could what the PM said was reported differently in The Star from The Sun? There is a world difference between “accept apology” and “not accept apology”. In the former instance it would be reasonable to assume no investigations/punishment will ensue.

    It is incomprehensible how one could accept apology and yet direct investigations to proceed. I cannot understand what The Star has reported. If what the Star reported was accurate over The Sun, it would cast a negative light on our cabinet in not knowing what its doing to accept apology and yet proceed to take action against the offender. Why don’t they tell the 2 BN MPs who made the “bochor” remarks that they should now be suspended notwithstanding they have made their apologies?

  60. When a Malay say something very seditious, he is a hero of their race. The rotten and corrupt Malaysia Government will defend him.
    When a Chinese say something not so seditious, he should be put in the jail.
    What MCA has to say about this?

  62. ‘When a Malay say something very seditious, he is a hero of their race. The rotten and corrupt Malaysia Government will defend him.
    When a Chinese say something not so seditious, he should be put in the jail’-AntiRacialDiscrimination

    Well, when they came to Malaysia more than 50 years ago, they are the BUMIPUTRA…… If the came threafter, they are PENDATANG TANPA IZIN DARI INDON……

  63. Will UMNO MINISTER APOLOGISE?

    The feel they are the TUAN…. or perhaps TUHAN in this country….apologising is out of question….wrong or rights … others have no ‘rights’ to questions them….they got many weapon at they disposal : ISA, OSA, SEDITIOUS ACT, SECTION 153 CONSTITUTION, and perhaps UNIT TINDAKAN KHAS too

  66. If u all are men, do apologise to the rakyat! Which university are you graduating from? By just a song, one’s citizenship has to be revoked! it’s all bullshit! By being a minister or politician does not mean that you have the rights to say whatever you like! please behave….we are living in the year 2007! Belum sedar lagi ke kamu semua? it takes 50 years to achieve what we have now, you guys are destroying it piece by piece! Nak minta maf pun tak berani ke? habis tu…apa lagi yang you berani buat? mencarut? minum kopi? ataupun apa lagi? one word “TERUK!”

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