by Sharaad Kuttan
The Wire
27/09/2015
As questions are raised about the dealings of a government fund, the Malaysian authorities are once again looking to play the race card
Kuala Lampur: China’s ambassador and his wife sipped tea at one of Kuala Lumpur’s better known tourist-traps known as Chinatown earlier this week.
Standing with a representative of a local retail association and having just handed out mid-autumn “moon cakes’ to traders he issued an unusual statement.
He said that China would not condone “terrorism, extremism and discrimination”.
In an immediate response Wisma Putra – Malaysia’s foreign ministry – summoned the ambassador to explain his remarks.
What made his remarks particular stinging for the government was that it was delivered on the eve of a planned rally by supporters of the Prime Minister Najib Razak, then in New York.
The second rally in as many weeks – billed as a show of Malay-Muslim ethnic pride – was widely seen as racist and targeting the minority Chinese population in particular. It was eventually called-off. Continue reading “Malaysia’s Najib is Still in Control but Graft Charges Have Hurt Him, Perhaps Fatally”