DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang has turned the tables on Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar over his remarks against controversial filmmaker Namewee.

teoh beng hock memorial night 160710 kit siang Claiming that Khairy himself is far from spotless, Lim ( left ) challenged the young politician to turn himself in for allegedly making racist remarks in the past.

"Before Khairy demands that Wee should be taught a lesson, will he surrender himself to the police for criminal charges to be preferred against him for his previous racist statements?

"Whether it is for his uncalled-for attack on the Indian community during a live telecast at the Umno general assembly in November 2007 or his infamous outburst about the so-called marginalisation of the Malays in Penang under Dr Koh Tsu Koon as Penang Chief Minister?" Lim shot in a statement.

Khairy, also the Rembau MP, had taken umbrage with Namewee (real name Wee Meng Chee) over his latest rap video 'Nah' which had criticised a school headmistress for alleging making racial slurs against her students in a secondary school in Johor recently.

Blatantly offensive

In Khairy's statement yesterday, he was particularly irked by the line " You tak baca? Siapa buat Malaysia kaya ?" (Don't you know? Who made Malaysia wealthy?).

namewee negarakuku police bukit perdana 230908 01 "Let there be no doubt, Namewee's ( left ) insinuation that the Chinese are solely responsible for this country's growth is just as blatantly offensive.

"Neither is it a question of Malays being too sensitive. Hurt and anger are to be expected when one community is essentially told they play a minimal role in this country's progress," Khairy said earlier.

To that, Lim said that Khairy is wrong as the line is open to various interpretations and not just his conclusion that it is an overt insinuation that Malays played a minor role in Malaysia's economic growth and was therefore racist in nature.

"There is no need to spark a debate as to who had contributed to the country's economic development or to hark back to the oft-quoted statement by former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad that the Chinese in Malaysia pay 90 percent of the taxes in the country.

NONE "This is because the line quoted by Khairy ( right ) could mean that Malaysia's prosperity is the contribution of all Malaysians and that's why it is completely unacceptable to tell the Chinese in Malaysia to " balik tongsan ", firstly because all Malaysians contributed to the economic development of the country; and secondly, after 53 years of Merdeka the Malaysian Chinese are 100 percent Malaysians who have no ' tongsan ' to go back to!" said the veteran politician.

Amidst the whirlwind of controversy against Namewee, Lim had defended the young rapper, saying that although the video can be faulted for being obscene and vulgar, there was nothing seditious in it.