Sense and sensibility has not only abandoned the UMNO leadership and delegates at the UMNO General Assembly last week, but also after, so much so that UMNO Ministers are incapable of diligently and responsibly discharging their duties not just to UMNO, but even more important, to the nation and all Malaysians.
I will ask for a meeting with the Home Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Zaid Hamidi on the expiry of 480 hours on December 18 to find out why the Home Minister is unable or incapable of fulfilling his public oath that the police will start investigations within 24 hours of a report lodged against any individual who impinged on a sensitive issue.
It is more than a weeks since two DAP MPs, Teo Nie Ching (Kulai) and Kasthuri Patto (Batu Kawan), my political secretary Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud and DAP activist Syefura Othman lodged a police report against former Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr. Mashitah Ibrahim for her hate speech at the UMNO Wanita General Assembly calculated to incite inter-racial and inter-religious fear, tension and conflict with the despicable falsehood that the Chinese community in Kedah had committed the sacrilegious act of burning the Quran “page by page during a prayer ritual”.
Yesterday, together with DAP MPs Zairil Khir Johari (Bukit Bendera), Steven Sim (Bukit Mertajam) and Vincent Wu (Assistant National Organising Secretary), my political secretary Dyana Sofya and the two DAP Kedah State Assemblymen, Tan Kok Yew (Derga) and Teoh Boon Kok @ Teoh Kai Kok (Kota Darul Aman), as well as the PAS State Assemblyman for Kubang Rotan, Mohd Nasir Mustafa, I visited the Taman Anggerik market food court in Alor Setar where the sacrilegious act by the Chinese community was alleged by Mashitah to have taken place.
In our conversion with the stall holders and the people in the area, it was confirmed that Mashitah was guilty of a heinous hate speech by fabricating the dangerous lie in a multi-racial and multi-religious society that the Chinese community in the area had burnt the Quran “page by page during a prayer ritual”.
There was no such incident whatsoever and the result of our fact-finding visit fully collaborated the statement issued by the Kedah Mentri Besar, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir on November 24 that anincident in the area on Nov. 20 concerned a mentally-ill Malay individual who had torn the Quran and who is being detained in the psychiatric ward, and there was no incident of the Chinese community burning the Quran “page by page in a ritual prayer”.
If Zahid is not happy with Mukhriz’s statement and the findings of our fact-finding visit to the food court yesterday, I suggest he should personally make a visit to the Taman Anggerik market food court to find out the facts himself.
It is most shocking that a former Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department could be so irresponsible as to purvey such hate speech to incite inter-racial and inter-religious discord, tensions and conflict, and despite the mountain of facts, Mashitah is not prepared to retract her lies and publicly apologise for her most irresponsible hate speech.
But what is even more shocking is that the top UMNO leadership, by their silence and inaction, is prepared to aid, abet and condone her misdeed.
Mashitah was not the only UMNO delegate guilty of hate speech calculated to incite inter-racial and inter-religious fear, tension and conflict, as the Penang UMNO delegate Datuk Mohd Zaidi Mohd Said was another culprit, who seriously undermined inter-racial and inter-religious peace and harmony in the country with his hate speech that the success of Penang was because of the illegal businesses and crimes “in broad daylight” committed by the Chinese in the state.
How many “24 hours” will Zahid need before the police would act on the numerous police reports which had been lodged against Mashitah and Zaidi? 48 hours, 96 hours, 240 hours or 480 hours?
I will give Zahid 480 hours or 20 days till Dec. 18 before I ask to meet him to find out why he is unable to fulfil his public oath that the police will start investigations within 24 hours of a report lodged against any individual who impinged on a sensitive issue.