Umno Youth was obligated to act, says wing's editorial

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In an editorial

published o­n its official website today, Umno Youth explained why it had to lodge a police report against malaysiakini and denied that it was a move to attract publicity.

The editorial, 'Police report: Was Umno Youth's action uncouth?' (Laporan polis: Benarkah langkah Pemuda Umno serba sumbang??), dismissed as "shallow" allegations that Umno Youth was driven to act so to gain popularity.

It pointed out that police action against malaysiakini "will o­nly give enormous publicity to the website through local and international media coverage".

Acknowledging that while certain quarters felt that the wing's action was hasty and wrong, it added that Umno Youth was o­nly executing its responsibility as a party that defends "race, religion and country" within the boundaries of the nation's laws, "period".

"Anyone who thinks rationally, without following their emotions and having a narrow understanding, will agree that the article

[ sic ] published by malaysiakini under the heading 'Similarities between 'new Americans' and bumiputera' by Petrof (a pseudonym) is a lie, seditious and full of hatred towards a social contract agreed upon since 1957".

The editorial added that those who studied the "article" carefully and recollect historical facts will not doubt the wing for lodging the police report.

"This is because the special privileges accorded to the Malays and bumiputera is not an issue that needs debating. They are absolute and final."

Narrow perspective

Elaborating further, the wing said that looking at it from a narrow perspective, certain quarters may argue that the "article"'s effect is minimal, notwithstanding the unimpressive number of readers the website has.

"They opined that Umno Youth's action has simply blown up the issue and provide free publicity for the said website which was slipping into a lethargic state.

"We may agree with this view but the people must understand that the report lodged by Umno Youth did not head towards that direction."

Instead, the wing stressed that the greater issue was why a sensitive matter such as the special privileges of Malay Malaysians and bumiputera were disputed and mixed with "baseless facts [ sic ]".

"We believe that if the article [ sic ] merely equates Umno Youth with the most notorious group in the world, there is nothing to it.

"But because this article [ sic ] was published o­n a website moderated by those who are accorded the right of citizenship and who acknowledged the country's principles, the content of the article [ sic ] was not o­nly extreme and rude, but tried to incite racial sentiments."

Worse still, it added, was the likening of the Malay Malaysians to the English who colonised the Unites States.

"This is not o­nly a wrong viewpoint but also clearly an irresponsible o­nehistorians know that the Malays have been living in the Malay Peninsula for thousands of years.

"This fact cannot be changed by anyone who believes our history, unless the person is stubborn or intends to commit sedition for a particular motive."

Umno Youth stressed that this was the main reason why it acted so, adding that it was also driven by its "enormous love for the peace and harmony achieved in this country by all the races".

The wing also said it was not its responsibility to impose punishment o­n malaysiakini as it has faith in the country's laws.

"What is certain is that we do not want to see any party that appears to be jealous of the peace and prosperity of this country (and) try to incite things, which we perceive to be insensible, such as changing historical facts."

Umno Youth also stressed the stern action by the police was vital as a reminder to others to be more sensitive and not act wildly or test each others' "invincibility" by raising certain issues.

Double standards

In a related development, the youth wing's website also published a letter from PAS Youth deputy chief Salahuddin Ayub, who questioned the police's prompt action o­n malaysiakini .

The PAS leader asked why the police had to seize the computer hardware from the website's office.

He also urged the police to explain their inaction concerning similar reports lodged against Umno leaders including its president.

Salahuddin added that even Umno Youth constantly churned out statements that were seditious such as threatening to torch the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall.

"Was any action taken to investigate this incident?" he said.

He also pointed out that the police should not practise 'double standards' by acting against "the popular website" while allowing the "unpopular" RTM to showcase news and commentaries that are seditious and directed at opposition parties.

According to the PAS leader, the action against malaysiakini had two impacts: to provide immense publicity for the website and to upset the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project.

On Jan 20, police raided malaysiakini's office in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur and seized 15 CPUs and several servers acting o­n the report lodged by Umno Youth.

The CPUs have been returned as of today.

The hardware were confiscated when editor-in-chief Steven Gan refused to reveal the e-mail address of the letter writer o­n the ground of professional ethics.

The police have also recorded statements from Gan and four other editorial staff.



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