On Gerakan ready to cut links with defiant Umno leader

Tim Finian: Congratulations Gerakan for waking up from your slumber. Live up to your name and pull out now. It has been destined that the collapse of the BN will come from within and Bukit Bendera has proven it right.

Save what little pride, dignity and honour you have left and pull the plug now. Open your eyes, the HMS Pakatan has pulled alongside to give you a lifeline. Take it now or go down with the fast-tilting big ship. Remember, no lifeboats for you. They've all been booked.

Do the honourable thing and be remembered well in history or go down with the ship and be forever forgotten.

DrraviMD: Come Sept 16 there will be change, there’s no question about that. The real question is why is Gerakan still languishing in BN? But where can they go after being rejected by the rakyat at the March 8 polls?

The only logical explanation is for Gerakan to disband and join a truly multi-racial party like PKR. Gerakan must face up to the fact that racial politics are no longer relevant in Malaysia’s new political landscape. Change or face extinction, it’s as simple as that.

On Gerakan pushes for anti-hate code for BN

JTB: Dr Koh Tsu Koon unfortunately must be blind or deaf to even think of introducing a code of conduct to prevent future racist remarks by members within the Barisan Nasional component parties. Look Dr Koh, the culprit who made the seditious and racist remarks has not apologised to the Chinese.

You are a Chinese, and this chap, Ahmad Ismail the Bukit Bendera Umno division chief has in fact given you a tight slap and spat on your face by calling you a pendatang and therefore ineligible for equality. You are taking it quietly by calling for the introduction of a code of conduct.

I am not asking you to draw your cleaver and demand for his blood, I think you are too scared to do that. What I am asking you is, if you have any credibility left in your bones, is to press for police action and charge this racist under the Sedition Act.

So, you get your code of conduct passed. What if there is another racist remark? I bet you my last dollar that the same excuse would be made. What good will your code of conduct be? You think your code of conduct will frighten these bigoted racists when they are not even afraid of the law under the Sedition Act?

Dr Koh, please do not embarrass yourself and your Gerakan colleagues. You no longer speak for the Chinese community and if you think by doing this you are better than the MCA, you have got it all wrong.

On Penang Umno backs Ahmad, snubs Pak Lah

T Rozario: Yes, it's time for Abdullah to go, he is not wanted even in his own home state. A defiant Penang Umno has said ‘No’ to their boss, they have shown him in no uncertain terms that they are not willing to listen to him. This is tantamount to saying "We do not recognise your leadership".

If that is the case, I wonder what his position at the next Umno General Assembly will be. The 13 divisions in Penang backing Ahmad Ismail in his refusal to apologise for his racist remarks although ordered to do so by the prime minister, is an act of pure defiance and Abdullah must rightly sack the entire lot of division heads or step down from his post as the head of Umno Penang.

I wonder which course of action he will take. Whichever way it goes, the situation gives Mahathir Mohamad a lot f ammunition to lash out against his former number two. I am sure by now, the ex-premier would have already put pen to paper and taken a few pot shots at Abdullah.

Although Najib too has apologised, the message Penang Umno seems to be giving the leadership is that it is weak, and indeed if it can't control the 13 divisions, it deserves to throw in the towel.

The Abdullah and Najib team have failed miserably and they deserve to go. They do not even have the support of their own party members. This was very apparent at the Permatang Pauh elections as well, when the total votes garnered were less than the number of Umno members in the area. How do you legitimise such leadership?

Abdullah, the time has come to go. Not next week, next month or next year. Now.

Sang Kancil: I think Ahmad is trying to twist Malaysian history. The Chinese came to Malaya more than 1000 years ago, while the Indians came here almost1025 years ago. Lembah Bujang and Kota Gelanggi are proof of these early settlements.

The Chinese have worked very hard, along with the Malays and Indians in this country to develop it. Is it so wrong that they ask for some respect for their hard work? What right has Ahmad to belittle them?

Paran Chinniah: "Life is a struggle for most of us, except for those in favour of the government. Feeding our families and kids is our main target, with day-to-day survival being the most challenging.

We have made numerous complaints against the government but they seem to be an absolute waste of time. The governments' only focus is on an agenda targeted at making a a select few people very wealthy.

The country is in turmoil, the crime-rate is sky rocketing and inflation is up. However, under these circumstances, unity seems to be evident in our multi-racial community. We are all united and fighting for Merdeka again."

These words are not from a diary of a Malayan during the British or Japanese era. It is the life-story of an ordinary Malaysian today. Patriotism, which was dying in me, is being stoked. I can feel the pain of my fellow Malay, Chinese and Indian brothers and sisters. We want freedom from an oppressive government who is bent clinging on to power.

We want a Malaysia for Malaysians.

Unity, which has always been our strong point has been taken for granted and forsaken. It is time we put a stop to all the racial polarisation and stood as one again.

None of us are pendatang or refugees. We came to this country, worked hard and developed it with our blood and sweat. We all have rights in this land we call our home.

Tim Finian: Come on, let’s give Ahmad a break. After all, he spoke the honest truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But there's just one problem. The poor guy oversaw the sad fact that he and his ilk are also in the same boat.

The only group of people who have been here all this while are the ones still languishing in the jungle, neglected and forgotten except for occasional visits by the local representative come election time.

Meng: Ahmad Ismail and Penang Umno have finally stood up to say what Umno truly stands for. I believe the charade is over and these few brave men in Penang Umno have clearly articulated the Umno struggle.

No matter how Najib or Abdullah Badawi want to dress it up, this is the Umno struggle. This is what Umno is all about. That is why the BN formula could never work unless the various component parties continue to play the shadow game of racism.

I believe Ahmad and Penang Umno’s clear statement that they are unrepentant for such arrogant remarks should send a very strong signal to all non-race based parties in BN that there is no more place for them in the party.

It is time to move. It is time to leave the BN and think of a new Malaysia where the different races work together to make Malaysia competitive once more. No more inciting racial sentiments. No more pitting one race against another. We want it to stop.

Leave Umno and the other race based parties to rot in the museum. Gerakan, PPP and other non-race based parties should leave immediately and join Pakatan Rakyat to build a better Malaysia.

Jtanch: I am so glad to hear that Ahmad Ismail is not apologising for what he had said about the Chinese. In fact, it is very good to have such an obstinate and obdurate member like Ahmad in Umno because then you have a mechanism of self-destruction in the party.

With leaders like him in Umno, who needs the opposition to sink it. Well done Ahmad. Keep up your ‘good work’. Because of you, BN will disintegrate and sink into oblivion.

Yee: I think we should petition our MPs to cross over. There is no more need to support a party that espouses racist policies. Ahmad Ismail and Penang Umno have shown us all clearly that Umno insists on segregating Malaysians to perpetuate and justify the Barisan Nasional formula.

We must all write, call and visit our MPs to fulfill Anwar Ibrahim's plan for a new government and new hope for Malaysia. Lets start a campaign to show our MPs that there is no more support for BN.

Johan Baba: Unless and until someone who shot a video clip of Ahmad Ismail's allegedly seditious remarks against the Chinese and puts it on YouTube , the matter will not be resolved as it is a matter of one person's word against another.

Ahmad claims that he had been misquoted by the Sin Chew reporter who covered the event on Aug 25 in Permatang Pauh. However the Sin Chew reporter has stoutly stood by his report with the full backing of his editor.

I have every reason to believe the Sin Chew reporter, who is a senior and accomplished journalist who reported exactly what he saw, which was Ahmad referring to the Chinese as pendatang in Malaysia who should not have equality with the Malays.

It is Ahmad who is trying to twist his way out of a tricky situation by saying the he was referring to history of the pre-Merdeka period.

MILLIONTH CITIZEN: Ahmad said, "What I said is a statement of fact and no one can refute it". I too have one million Malay and Indian friends. Can I call my Indian friends names then defend myself by saying that my inflammatory remarks are facts?

Stephen Ng: Najib has earned the respect of the people for his public apology on behalf of Ahmad, although he should not have made the apology in the first place.

They say, a drop of blue ink pollutes a whole pail of milk. This is the case with Ahmad, whose comments, made as an Umno divisional chief, have smeared the good name of his party.

Nobody has called Najib a weak leader because of hs public apology. In fact, many of the people I speak to said they were personally touched by the fairness shown by Najib.

An apology is the first step to a healing process. It is the arrogance of political leaders that eventually lead to many a war.

Most people agree that Ahmad should be charged for sedition, regardless of whether he was using historical facts in a political ceramah . The fact remains that harsh words were used and feelings were hurt.

For this reason, the whip should be cracked, and there is no reason why Ahmad and the likes of him should escape being charged under the Sedition Act.

Historical or not, the words were still seditious.

John: Ahmad Ismail, Biro Tatanegara and now whoever supports Ahmad to say that he is right have committed an act of treason against the country.

When a person questions Malaysian citizenship based on ethnicity he/she has downgraded, insulted and brought into disrepute Malaysian citizenship and by extension the country, the flag and the King.

These people are trying to create a 'second-class' citizenship where none exits. Their claims are based on dubious, undocumented 'historical facts' that people of non-Malay ethnicity received citizenship in return for loyalty.

Aanyone who insults, questions or downgrades the citizenship of a Malaysian should be charged under the Sedition Act. Period.

Chuacj: My advice is that we should not over react to this matter. Playing up racial issues is just a ploy to throw the country into chaos. Pakatan Rakyat has the power to change but we must be patient. Sept 16 is but a few days away. Let’s not create unnecessary trouble as we have come so far. By fighting over race we are only derailing our own plans.

On PM could go sooner than later: Lim

Lim Keat Hoe: The PM should go, but it should not be because of Ahmad. It looks like this stoking of racial tensions and the subsequent statements by the Umnoputras (yes, Mahathir is still one), seems to be a strategy to enable the use of the ISA and emergency rule.

But they seem to hold all the pieces to this drama and so I can only watch with bated breath and hope that finally good will still triumph over evil.

On PM orders stop on tiff over race issues

T Rozario: It’s the same old story and same old modus operandi , to tell the non-Malays in the country that they are second-class citizens. To make matters worse, it’s the same old players of racial politics.

The modus operandi is simple. Get an Umno man to make a seditious statement about the other races. Then get MCA, Gerakan and MIC seemingly up in arms demanding an apology. This is soon followed by the person making the statement lying low. There will then be silence from the Umno leadership.

After a lot of fuss, the leadership will call for a truce and the person who makes the statement gets off the hook.

Now the PM has warned all and sundry that we are abusing the freedom of speech by touching on sensitive issues. If I am to interpret him right, he means that we should stop talking about the Ahmad Islmail case.

The PM goes further to say that newspapers should not report such things to stir up emotions, and my interpretation of this is that we must all live in denial, never ever discussing any thorny issues with rational and logical thinking.

MCA, Gerakan and MIC are certainly not equal players in Barisan Nasonal. They are merely a convenience for Umno to put on a show of racial unity in the country.

On Ahmad: Many support my statement

Sang Kancil: Was Ahmad Ismail dreaming when he said many supported his statement?

I am still puzzled as to why he said his supporters indicated that there were emerging threats against Malay rights and privileges. Who is threatening the Malays? Perhaps Ahmad can enlighten us on his fact?

The solution is simple. Was his speech caught on video? If so, then play the full video and we will see for ourselves if he has been misquoted. We are all human. If we say things at the heat of the moment which we do not mean, the natural thing to do is to apologise. The case will be closed and we move on. If we have been misquoted, we should come forward immediately to clarify instead of keeping quiet.

In a multi-racial country like ours, mutual respect and understanding is the key to racial harmony.

FROG EATER: Like the proverbial frog in the katak di bawah tempurung saying, Ahmad and his supporters are living in a world of their own.

They have not learnt from the March 8 General Election and the Aug 26 Permatang Pauh by-election. Ahmad said many supported him. Why then did so many people vote for the opposition, giving them the mandate for change?

Isn't he aware of the fact that despite his racist speech, the majority of the Malay Muslims in the area voted for Anwar Ibrahim and gave him a resounding victory? No, evidently he and his supporters are in a gross state of delusion. They have not woken up to the stark reality.