Kit Siang denies ‘Malai-seh’ slogan, calls Zul Noordin ‘irresponsible liar’


BY CLARA CHOOI, ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
MAY 13, 2013
The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, May 13 — Lim Kit Siang today denied that he or the DAP had called for the death of Malays with the term “Malai-seh” during the bloody May 1969 riots, saying Datuk Zulkifli Noordin had committed sedition and criminal defamation with the allegation.

Lim, who is frequently targeted by right-wing Malay leaders as the protagonist behind the country’s worse racial clash in history, said Zulkifli’s remarks were merely lies uttered by a man who voters had rejected in the just-concluded Election 2013.

“After having been rejected in Shah Alam, even by the Malay voters, he continues to tell irresponsible lies.

“Now he speaks about May 13, accusing me of being responsible for the riots and for the slogan ‘Malai-seh’. It is not at all true, I was not even in Kuala Lumpur at the time,” Lim (picture) told The Malaysian Insider when contacted.

The Gelang Patah MP said the accusation was just a “figment” of Zulkifli’s imagination, and explained that the words “Malai-seh” had never been linked to him or any DAP leader in the White Paper on the May 13, 1969 incident.

He added that the White Paper had noted that an illegal procession had been held and the slogan “Malai-seh” was tossed about then but it was never linked to a particular individual.

In a series of postings on Twitter yesterday, Zulkifli accused the DAP and Lim of being behind the 1969 race riots, even as Umno leaders continue to blame last week’s poor election results on a “Chinese tsunami” that was fanned by the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) party.

The controversial Perkasa vice-president, who was a direct Barisan Nasional (BN) losing candidate in Election 2013, made the allegations in a series of tweets sent out on the eve of the 44th anniversary of the riots.

“Tomorrow is May 13… the 44th anniversary of race riots in Malaysia which was the atrocity of chauvinists including Kit Siang’s party which used the slogan Malai-Seh or Die Malays,” he tweeted late last night.

But former Umno member Tamrin Ghafar had already cleared Lim while on the stump of the Election 2013 campaign trail, saying that Umno itself was behind the riot.

The son of former Deputy Prime Minister Tun Abdul Ghafar Baba said he was told by former home minister, the late Tun Ghazali Shafie, that the May 13 riots were likely the result of an internal Umno coup against founding Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.

According to police records, 196 people were killed in the riots which were largely clashes between Malay and Chinese groups, following the results of the general election held a few days earlier.

In the 1969 elections, the Alliance coalition of Umno, the MCA and MIC lost the popular vote but won the elections.

Lim said he regards Zulkifli’s remarks with “utter contempt” but did not say if he would take any action against the former Kulim Bandar Baharu MP, simply labelling the latter “desperate”.

“If he had said it during the campaign, my immediate recourse would be to cite him for sedition or criminal defamation and a police report can be lodged, or legal action taken.

“Now, I regard this with utter contempt,” he said.

When contacted, DAP publicity secretary Tony Pua said Zulkifli had lost his right to speak on behalf of Malaysians after he lost his bid for the Shah Alam federal seat in a contest against incumbent Khalid Samad of PAS.

The Petaling Jaya Utara MP added, however, that with Zulkifli running riot with his remarks without earning repudiation from BN or Umno leaders, it was clear that the controversial leader was representative “of what Umno is today”.

“Umno is becoming more and more far-right as they seek to protect their shrinking voter base,” he said.

Umno and its president, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, have blamed a “Chinese tsunami” for its losses in the just-concluded May 5 polls, despite several analyses of the results pointing to a urban-rural divide rather than a Malay-Chinese division. While a majority of Chinese backed PR parties, a significant number of Malay voters also voted for the opposition parties, particularly in urban centres.

Since the DAP became the target of Umno attacks, it has been backed by its PR partners PKR and PAS which are largely Malay parties.

  1. #1 by Bigjoe on Monday, 13 May 2013 - 4:18 pm

    SUE THE IDIOT (and maybe Perkasa and BN too?) FOR DEFAMATION – RM100m on behalf of Sdr Lim and DAP..

  2. #2 by Winston on Monday, 13 May 2013 - 5:05 pm

    Suing them is one thing.
    They have the government’s coffers to pay for the damages.
    What’s better is to get them jailed for serial defamation.
    That may be more meaningful.

  3. #3 by burn on Monday, 13 May 2013 - 6:18 pm

    all this ruckus started b’cause of one person… the former! the mastermind!

  4. #4 by worldpress on Monday, 13 May 2013 - 6:57 pm

    like earn living by telling lie, a lot of lies

    get rich by rob, steal, dishonesty,

    get protected by corrupt everyone he need for protection

  5. #5 by Bunch of Suckers on Monday, 13 May 2013 - 7:02 pm

    When the damn losers sucked up their election results, they tend to paint other winners as past racial troublemakers. That’s the way it works for the damn BN/UMNO suckers and losers!

    They (BN/UMNO suckers) campaign and uphold fake democray instead they value DEMOCRAZY and sucky!!! Every Rakyat has her/his constitutional rights to vote whichever party and whoever she/he lives! What the term “UNGRATEFUL” spit out by those BN/UMNO suckers repeatedly!!!!???

    Suckers, if PR took over the government, pretty sure many foreign investors, esp. the Western, would flock into our nation for huge and heap of investments! Many brain-drained professionals would returning back to contribute. Believe it, that’s fact, suckers!!!

  6. #6 by tuahpekkong on Monday, 13 May 2013 - 10:35 pm

    The three most notorious racists in the country right now are undoubtedly Dr M, Katak Ali and blockhead Zul, with new racists such as an ex-judge joining the fray almost daily after DAP’s remarkable performance in the recent GE. I think that is DAP’s only “crime”.

  7. #7 by Noble House on Tuesday, 14 May 2013 - 3:01 am

    Some minds are like concrete, thoroughly mixed up and permanently set. The truth is “hate speech” only to those who have something to hide. Such is the sorrowful state of mind for this troglodyte peasant of a bygone era. I wouldn’t waste my time on him.

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