Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob yesterday accepted my challenge to cite an example in my 50 years in politics to prove that I am anti-Malay and anti-Islam, and said that he can compile a whole book on the anti-Malay and anti-Islam speeches that I had made.

But he did not cite a single instance to back up his allegation.

Let me tell Ismail – a book can wait, but let’s have one example a day until polling day for the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections on June 18 or five examples that I had been anti-Malay and anti-Islam in my 50 years in politics.

He should have given one example yesterday. As he did not, he owes me one example. I await his one example a day until Friday i.e. five examples in all, which is not too much to ask, since he is talking about a book, presumably at least 100 examples!

I have been tickled to no end reading the fulmination of another UMNO Minister for Agriculture and Agro-based Industries, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, who said that Tun Dr. Mahathir was just the DAP’s latest “warhorse”.

Shabery came to Sungai Besar yesterday and said that I had used PKR Ketua Umum, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, Amanah leaders and now Tun Dr. Mahathir as my “war horses”.

As Hadi is now very intimate with the UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib
Razak, aspiring to be the Prime Minister’s “adviser”, Shabery should ask Hadi to admit publicly that he was a DAP “war horse” in the past.

If not, it is concrete proof that Shabery was just weaving fairy tales to deceive his audience.

If Shabery is right that DAP had made use of Anwar, Hadi, Amanah leaders and now Mahathir as “war horses” to serve its ends, he had forgotten or deliberately omitted another name – Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who was President of Semangat 46 and whom the DAP co-operated in the 1990 General Election in Gagasan Rakyat.

Why did Shabery leave out Tengku Razeleigh as the DAP’s “war horses”?

The answer is very simple. Shabery would be indicting himself, as he was a minor cog in the wheel of Semangat 46 at the time – a “war horse” of Tengku Razaleigh – and if Tengku Razaleigh was used as DAP’s “war horse” in 1990, then Shabery had played the role of the “war horse” of DAP’s “war horse” – a most demeaning and humiliating role for one who has risen to become a UMNO Cabinet Minister after betraying his former political boss!

As a former academician, one would have thought that Shabery would never lose the moral compass of being able to distinguish right from wrong.

Who would have believed that the once starry-eyed idealist of an academician could end up as such a hard-nosed political operator who could even defend global corruption scandals like the RM55 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion “donation” mega scandals!

Who has become whose “war horse”, Shabery?

Both Shabery case and that of UMNO followers lodging police reports over the humourous speech by the PKR Secretary-General and MP for Pandan, Rafizi Ramli about Amanah candidate in Kuala Kangsar, Ahmad Termizi Ramli being a nuclear physicist and that if Termizi could win in the by-election, he would be able to hurl an “atomic bomb” at Prime Minister Najib in Parliament shows the utter failure of our educational system whose products do not understand what is a simile, metaphor or a simple figure of speech.

All the recent Education Ministers are clearly national failures going by Shabery example and those who lodged police reports in Kuala Kangsar over Rafizi’s humourous speech about an “atomic bomb” in Parliament!

I fully agree with former Secretary-General of Treasury, Tan Sri Mohd Sheriff Mohd Kassim, 76, who issued a statement yesterday declaring that there are more important and urgent matters like political and educational reforms to make Malaysia a united and strong nation instead of divisive religious politics like hudud.

(Media Conference Statement in Sekinchan on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 at 11 am)