INTERVIEW Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) secretary-general Shahruddin Md Salleh denies that he is a racist, based on a statement he made in 2014 that those not well-versed in the national language, Bahasa Malaysia, be stripped of their citizenship.

"There is nothing racist about it," Shahruddin said in an interview with Malaysiakini yesterday.

He said he was merely raising a question, instead of putting forward a suggestion when he made the comments in the Johor legislative assembly two years ago.

"In the state assembly, we (lawmakers) can only raise two things: a question or a suggestion," he said.

"I started (the sentence) with a 'what'. It was a question, not a suggestion.

"I asked if the government will strip anyone's citizenship for being unable to speak Bahasa Malaysia. I asked about the measures (that could be taken in resolving the problem)," added Shahruddin, the Jorak assemblyperson who resigned from Umno recently.

He said that at the time, he found that Malaysian children living abroad could not speak or understand Bahasa Malaysia.

"Some Malays who live abroad cannot speak Malay, and they carry Malaysian passports. I have seen it for myself. My friends' children could not speak Malay, they had obtained permanent resident status in England, Australia and New Zealand," he said.

"I asked (them) to count from one to 10 (in BM), they just shook their heads. They didn't even know what was left or right," he said, adding that he wished the government could resolve this matter.

"I was concerned, and all Malaysians should be concerned about it. There are Malaysians who cannot speak Malay at all. That was what I meant then," said Shahruddin.

"I also voiced out in the state assembly that we must have our children to learn Mandarin and Tamil because we live in a multiracial country," he added.

DAP Skudai assemblyperson Dr Boo Cheng Hau (photo) revisited the issue on Oct 10, three days after Shahruddin's appointment in Bersatu.

Boo demanded to know if this was Bersatu's stand, and suggested Shahruddin be rehabilitated, learns the language of a minority race and offers free BM tuition classes.

Responding to this, Shahruddin said he had no problem learning Mandarin.

"I sent two of my seven children to study in a Chinese primary school... I am so ashamed because as a Malaysian I cannot speak Mandarin.

"I can speak a little Mandarin - ni hao ma (how are you). If you (Chinese) can speak Malay, why can't I speak Mandarin?" he asked.

"Seriously, I did not suggest stripping anyone of their citizenship. If I were an ultra-Malay, then I would have asked for Chinese schools to be closed down."

In 2014, Shahruddin caused a stir in the Johor state assembly when he proposed that the government introduces a special test on the Malay language.

“If they fail this test, have their citizenship stripped,” he was reported as saying.

He complained at the time that many students, including Malays, were not able to master the national language.