COMMENT | Johor Gabung vice-president Abdullah Md Yusof’s appears to be making a fool of himself with his latest gimmick of taking offence at the Bugis “pirate” remark.

“Who would not be angry at being called a pirate?” Abdullah asked, after Dr Mahathir Mohamad made mention of “crooks who steal money” at a ceramah in Alor Star last Friday.

Abdullah should know, as we all do, that the remark was targeted at someone else.

In my opinion, Abdullah is truly making a fuss over nothing. In fact, he should be looking at the mirror and asking why he is angry with the remark because it has become too common in our politics for people to call others by names.

He should just move on, instead of defending the one identified as the “Bugis pirate” by the former prime minister.

Importantly, Mahathir did not call every one of Bugis descent a “pirate.” If only one person is being identified as a “pirate,” Abdullah should be asking who that pirate is, for bringing shame to the community.

If we were to employ the logic of National Civics Bureau director Raja Arif Raja Ali, who said that that the term “pendatang” to describe the Chinese and Indians in Malaysia is historical fact, then we could also say that the Bugis were known at one point in history as pirates.

But that is all in the past. So I cannot see why Abdullah wants to take offence today as if Dr Mahathir was targeting the entire community.

It is like the proverbial saying in Malay, “Kerana nila setitik, rosak susu sebelanga” (a drop of indigo spoils the entire pot of milk), or the rotten apple that spoils the barrel. That rotten apple should be removed for the sake of the community’s image.

Since Abdullah is from Johor, I am hoping once again the Johor crown prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim says something to put a stop to the nonsense. We know unless the TMJ steps in, no one in the country’s corridors of power would care...