Two opposition leaders today denied making statements accusing the ruling party Umno of having intentions of killing the Chinese over the Suqiu controversy last year.

PAS committee member Hatta Ramli and Keadilan information chief Ruslan Kassim however admitted saying that they would have come out in support of the Chinese in the event Umno Youth members carried out their threat to burn down the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in August last year.

The threat was made by Umno Youth to the Malaysian Chinese Organisations' Election Appeals Committee (Suqiu) last August over the committee's [#1] 17-point appeal [/#] to the government which included the points relating to Malay special rights and privileges.

Umno Youth had wanted Suqiu, which is housed at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, to withdraw the sensitive appeals and apologise to the Malays for bringing up the matter.

Spoke up

Yesterday Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that the opposition parties, especially PAS, were trying to win Chinese votes by making out Umno as anti-Chinese.

He said that this was clear by statements made by Hatta and Ruslan which were published in the PAS party organ Harakah and on the Internet saying that they would defend the Chinese if Umno Malays wanted to kill them.

"When did Umno talk about killing the Chinese?" asked Mahathir.

Ruslan told malaysiakini today that he only spoke up against the threat by UmnoYouth members against Suqiu.

"They had said that they would burn down the assembly hall and I spoke out against that, saying that if they (Umno Youth) wanted to do that, they will have to go over my dead body first," he said.

"I never said that Umno wanted to kill the Chinese," he added.

Out of context

He said that Umno Youth members had warned Suqiu not to question Malay privileges and that they were prepared to die to protect their rights.

"To this, I had said that the opposition parties will fight for justice for all and the Umno Youth members will have to deal with me first if they want to do anything to the Suqiu members," said Ruslan.

Hatta, who is political secretary to opposition leader Fadzil Noor, also denied saying that Umno wanted to kill the Chinese.

"I spoke of defending the Chinese based on the behaviour of Umno Youth members at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall. I did not say that Umno wanted to kill the Chinese," he said.

"The statement was not racial in nature and was not made to gain Chinese votes. It was made to show that we care for all citizens of this country, irrespective of race," said Hatta.

He added that Mahathir has taken the entire issue out of context and was only referring to parts that would be advantageous to him.

Set aside

Mahathir has previously likened Suqiu's actions to those of the "communists in the past" for supposedly fanning racial sentiments.

"Because it seems as if the government headed by the Malays has become weaker, the Chinese extremists who are displeased with the cooperation among the various races in Malaysia are starting to hurt the feelings of the Malays by making all sorts of absurd demands," he said in his Merdeka day speech last year.

Suqiu then came under pressure to withdraw their election appeals, especially from Umno Youth. A series of meetings between Suqiu and Umno Youth resulted in the Chinese lobby group setting aside on Jan 5 seven of its 83-sub points considered sensitive.

The parties cited escalating ethnic tension as the reason for Suqiu to set aside the seven points which included calls for affirmative action to be based on the protection and enhancement of the status of the weaker sectors and not on race, social background and religious belief and to take steps to abolish in all aspects, the 'bumiputra and non-bumiputra distinction'.