Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran has defended his statements during a recent ceramah, which courted brickbats from Umno leaders.

“In terms of appealing to the Indian community, I was basically showing my solidarity with the Rantau community by eating in their local outlets.

“People who know me personally will know that I eat at all eateries,” he said in a Facebook statement.

Yesterday, Malaysiakini reported that during the Thursday night ceramah, the DAP lawmaker, who spoke in Tamil, said that when he visits Rantau, he prefers to eat in Indian restaurants.

“I have come to Rantau so many times, there are so many Chinese shops, so many Malay shops, but I do not like to eat (in these places)...

“We go to Tamil (Indian) shops. Why? Because this is our community,” he stated in a 58-second video clip, which went viral on social media.

Meanwhile, Kulasegaran said he is mulling legal action against Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, who accused the minister of inciting the Indians in Rantau to hate the Malays.

“I was criticising Umno in my speech and not the Malays. Umno is only a party and does not represent all Malays.

“Secondly, I have been accused of insulting the (Yang di-Pertuan) Agong and Permaisuri which is blatantly outrageous. What I referred to was 'those living as king and queen' which mean certain individuals own luxury houses, while others are not able to afford it.

“Umno and PAS have been forging an ethnocentric alliance and have been using DAP as a punching bag as part of their extreme ethno-religious politics to win elections. It is like the pot calling a kettle black,” he added.

According to Kulasegaran, his statements have been “interpreted in the extreme”.

“I would like to remind Umno Youth that the Malay community is not just made up of Umno supporters,” he added.

However, the parts Asyraf and Kulasegaran cited were not in the video referred to by Malaysiakini in its previous report.

The Umno Youth chief had urged the police to investigate the minister and to charge him under the Sedition Act.

Kulasegaran was campaigning for Pakatan Harapan candidate Dr S Streram, who is facing Umno acting chairperson Mohamad Hasan and two independent candidates in today's by-election for the Rantau state seat.

In the video clip, the minister also called on the Indian voters, who make up 27 percent of the electorate, to support a candidate of their own race.