Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi charmed Wanita MCA members and other guests at a dinner event tonight when he told them in Mandarin that “we are a family despite being different races”.

“I am Malay, you are Chinese. But we are all Malaysians.

“We are a family,” he said in Mandarin at the beginning of his speech at the Wanita MCA Excellence Award Night and Women's Day celebration dinner in Seri Kembangan, near Kuala Lumpur.

The remark was greeted with rousing applause from approximately 1,000 guests comprising past and present female leaders in various fields, as well as representatives from various non-government organisations.

At the event, the deputy prime minister also presented awards to six outstanding Chinese women including former Tourism Minister and MCA Vice-President Tan Sri Dr Ng Yen Yen and Malaysia and Asia’s first MiG-29 female fighter pilot Mejar Patricia Yapp Syau Yinn.

Also present were MCA president Liow Tiong Lai and Wanita MCA chief Heng Seai Kie.

- Bernama