Former MIC strategic director S Vell Paari said Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob should represent all Malaysians, and not blame the Chinese community over the rising price of goods.

"Why is it that everything needs to be seen through racial lenses? Why couldn't he just label them as errant traders?

"The minister should know that unscrupulous businessmen come in all shades," said Vell Paari in a press release today.

Vell Paari ( left ) noted that the Chinese community is a hard-working community that has contributed to the growth of Malaysia.

"So, instead of trying to portray the Chinese community as evil, what we should do is learn from them vis-a-vis their sense of unity, hard work, willpower and their 'never give up' attitude to succeed in whichever part of the world they might migrate to," he added.

Yesterday, Ismail Sabri's Facebook post urging for Malays to boycott Chinese businesses to compel the latter to keep prices low, had begun circulating among pro-Umno blogs and the social media.

Ismail Sabri later clarified that he was only referring to certain "stubborn" Chinese traders, and not the Chinese community as a whole.

Mohana: Suppliers mostly Chinese

Unlike Vell Paari, MIC Wanita chief M Mohana believed that there was no malice in Ismail Sabri's statement.

"He is warning us about rogue traders who are taking opportunity of the Chinese New Year to increase all prices and citing nonsense reasons when we all know that petrol price is at one of its lowest in the history.

"When the petrol price is high, these traders will say that their operation cost is increasing. But when the petrol price is down they will say that petrol is only a small part of their operation, and that it doesn’t make a difference, so they cannot reduce their prices. This is hypocrisy.

"And it is a fact that most suppliers are Chinese. It is not his fault that most traders are Chinese. To me, this is not being racial," she said in a letter to Malaysiakini yesterday.

Instead, Mohana suggested that MCA and DAP had intentionally misrepresented Ismail Sabri for political mileage.