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Tuesday, October 21, 2014

WHO IS GERAKAN TRYING TO KID? Would Umno suspend their delegate if he called a non-Malay 'pendatang'?

WHO IS GERAKAN TRYING TO KID? Would Umno suspend their delegate if he called a non-Malay 'pendatang'?
In 2008, Gerakan defended one of its leaders who said Malays had originated from the Malay archipelago.
Today, the party's grassroots members said they supported the suspension of the Johor delegate who called Malays “pendatang” (immigrants) as it showed the party was serious about fighting racism.
They agreed with the central committee’s decision, saying the delegate, Tan Lai Soon, should not have stooped to the level of their attackers by using the same derogative label sgainst the Malays. “Pendatang" is a slur some Malays use against the Chinese and Indians to imply that the country belongs to the Malays and that other races were inferior to them.
“I don’t agree with him using the word ‘pendatang’, as we are a diverse society and should respect one another,” said Chia Gim Tiong, adviser to the Gerakan Kelantan Youth chief.
“But from this issue, I hope that the leaders of the other parties could also follow Gerakan's step. They should take action against those who make remarks that offend other races. The government must also do something to remind all Malaysians about our history and how we are all one nation.”
Gerakan is a component party of the ruling Barisan Nasional.
On Sunday at its annual national delegates' conference, Tan said that not only were the Chinese and Indians immigrants, but that Malays were not natives of Malaysia either as they had emigrated from Indonesia.
“When Umno members say that the Chinese are pendatang, they obviously forgot that they were also pendatang from Indonesia,” said Tan.
Gerakan suspended his membership yesterday with immediate effect, after more than a dozen members lodged complaints with the party over the matter.
The party’s deputy president, Datuk Cheah Soon Hai, told a press conference that Tan’s statement did not reflect the party’s stand as Gerakan believed no Malaysian was a pendatang.
He said Tan must explain his position to the party within 14 days of his suspension, or risk being expelled from the party.
In October 2008, however, at the Gerakan Youth and Wanita assembly that year, Gerakan Wanita chief Datuk Tan Lian Hoe had said in her speech that "orang Melayu adalah dari kepulauan Nusantara" (the Malays are from the Malay archipelago) when talking about national unity in Malaysia.
Following negative reactions to her speech, then Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon defended her and explained that the context of her speech was to show that all Malaysian citizens were "Anak Malaysia" (children of Malaysia).
Koh rejected media coverage of Tan words which made her sound as if she had called Malays "immigrants" from Sumatra and said she did not mean to question or politicise history in her speech.
But Chia said today that while Johor delegate Tan should not have labelled anyone as “pendatang”, Tan was only expressing the frustrations felt by many Gerakan members over the issue.
“His real message was to show the rakyat how it feels to be mocked, to be ridiculed, how hurtful it is to be called pendatang.”
Gerakan Jalan Semarak branch chairman Alexis Choo told The Malaysian Insider that the suspension was necessary to show that Gerakan believed Malaysians should not respond in kind to those who insulted them.
“We shouldn’t be calling each other pendatang. It’s not good. We don’t like people saying that to us, so we shouldn’t say that to others,” he said.
“I think we need to do this. We need to let other people know we are always very serious about the issue.”
Kahang Timur branch chief Datuk Chin Nyuk Ching said that while delegates should be free to express themselves during the annual conference, the suspension would allow the party to investigate if his claims were inappropriate.
In his speech on Sunday, Tan had also taken a swipe at Malay rights group Perkasa and Isma, saying the leaders of these groups were well educated and could be considered professionals.
“Unfortunately, they do not behave like that as they like to make nonsensical comments which incite racial hatred."
Yesterday, a coalition of Malay-Muslim groups called Pertubuhan Pembela Islam (Pembela) lodged a police report against Tan, and demanded that he be probed under the Sedition Act 1948. –TMI

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