Cabinet did not ask Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to retract his controversial statement, according to Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

He also revealed that MCA and MIC ministers, who attended the meeting yesterday, did not ask Ismail to resign either.

"What statement you want him to retract? No one asked him to resign either," he was quoted as saying by Sin Chew Daily .

MCA has two cabinet members, party president Liow Tiong Lai, who is transport minister, and his deputy Wee Ka Siong, who is a minister in the Prime Minister's Department.

Whereas MIC also has two reps, party president G Palanivel, who is natural resources and environment minister, and deputy Dr S Subramaniam, who oversees the health portfolio.

Did Liow 'claim justice'?

Yesterday, Liow said MCA had raised the issue during the cabinet meeting and claimed that the Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak " understood " the party’s position.

He added that the premier also called on cabinet members to cease making such statements.

Previously, Liow had promised to " claim justice " for the Chinese community for smearing the Chinese community.

Ismail had drawn flak over his Facebook posting, which called on the Malays to boycott Chinese traders for refusing to lower the prices of goods.

The minister has refused to apologise and urged his critics to look at the bigger picture instead.

Following the cabinet meeting, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement claiming that Ismail did not target Chinese traders, but all those who refused to reduce their prices.

Nothing to retract

Meanwhile, Hishammuddin said there could have been a misunderstanding.

He added that since Ismail’s statement ( below ) was not meant at calling on the Malays to boycott Chinese traders, there was nothing to retract.

T he defence minister said he has known Ismail for a long time and the latter is not someone who would fan racial sentiments.

Hishamuddin pointed out that what was discussed at the cabinet meeting was using consumer power to determine the price of goods.

“This is a very effective and important action, focused on those irresponsible traders, and this has nothing to do with race,” he added.