The gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage attack on tycoon Robert Kuok by UMNO cybertroopers, Ministers and leaders in the past four days is a classic case of “If you play with fire, you get burned”.

I welcome the statement by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, acknowledging that Robert Kuok’s accomplishment as a success story for the country and an inspiration for other entrepreneurs to succeed.

Malaysians breathe a sigh of relief that the completely unwarranted four-day agony, trial and travail which the country’s political process and nation-building underwent had ended, but the question is why the Prime Minister had allowed the whole ugly episode to drag out for four days, with UMNO Ministers like Datuk Seri Azalina Othman, Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, and Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz and Deputy Minister Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman stoking the fires of lies, fake news and false information, with the Prime Minister himself contributing to the whole ugly incident with his own statement about Robert Kuok.

But have the UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders really learned a lesson from the ugly episode and can Malaysians be given an assurance that the UMNO/BN leaders will not put the country’s political process and nation-building through another such an agony, trial and tribulation?

I hope that Najib and the UMNO/BN leaders have become wiser after the ugly four-day gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage UMNO attack on Robert Kuok and that they will not put plural Malaysia under such an agony, trial and travail again, as they must always remember that “If you play with fire, you get burned”.

As I said at the DAP kopitiam ceramah at Bertam Valley yesterday morning, although I have not received a single sen from Kuok in the past 53 years, whether directly or through his nephew James Kuok, I do not hesitate in speaking up for Robert Kuok when he was the subject of gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage UMNO attacks.

I do not know Kuok intimately, but in the few times I have met him, I found him to a quintessential Malaysian!

I can endorse Kuok statement that any assertion that he has forgotten his roots are entirely false.

I always find Kuok to be concerned about the future and wellbeing of Malaysia, marked by a deep appreciation for the opportunities he had in this country, fully recognising the contributions made by Malaysians of all creeds, races and religions towards the development of Malaysia.

Any suggestion that Kuok wants the Chinese to rule Malaysia is not only bizarre and far-fetched but highly wicked, evil and defamatory.

(Media Statement in Ringlet, Cameron Highlands on Wednesday, February 28, 2018)