Suspended Penang Umno division leader Ahmad Ismail has demanded a public explanation from Gerakan leaders over their failure to punish women’s head Tan Lian Hoe since last September.

According to him, Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon had promised the Barisan Nasional leadership that the party would take action against Tan for allegedly stirring up racial sentiments.

ahmad ismail and umno “This is what Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told me last year. But until today the Gerakan leadership has failed to take any punitive action against Tan,” Ahmad (right) told Malaysiakini today.

Ahmad has been suspended for three years since last September from holding any position in Umno for his statement that Chinese Malaysians are ‘squatters’ in the country.

Describing Koh as “hypocrite of highest order”, the former Umno Bukit Bendera leader said Gerakan leaders should have emulated Umno by similarly suspending Tan from active politics for a period of time.

gerakan ndc 101008 tan lian hoe He also called on Abdullah to sack Tan (left) from her position as deputy information minister.

“Koh made a big hue and cry over my statement, which was merely historical facts and never racist. But he is so hypocritical and quiet when it comes to his own party leader.

It’s time for Koh and company to explain reasons for their silence. I am unhappy that after four months, Gerakan had not punished Tan. This is hypocrisy.”

Issue settled

Ahmad made headlines with his remark during the Permatang Pauh by-election campaign last August, as reported in Sin Chiew Daily.

The jibe went largely unnoticed until MCA and Gerakan lodged several police reports against him, as did Penang DAP.

ahmad ismail bukit bendera pinang umno tear up koh tsu koon photo 080908 zainol abidin hashim In retaliation, Ahmad’s supporters tore up Koh’s portrait in the Penang Umno building to demonstrate their anger against Gerakan leadership.

Ahmad even blamed Koh’s ‘weak leadership’ and Gerakan’s ‘incompetence’ as the main reasons why Chinese voters in Penang had rejected Barisan Nasional in the general election last march.

Tan then spoke about the Malays at the Gerakan annual congress last September, which Umno leaders saw as questioning the community’s bumiputera status. She was later rebuked in the Parliament.

While that controversy cooled following Tan’s explanation of her remarks to Abdullah, the issues surrounding Ahmad’s statement were settled only after he was suspended.