Zaid slams Malay leaders over continuous attacks on brewery donation

Former minister Zaid Ibrahim has accused PAS and Umno leaders of having misplaced priorities for channelling their wrath on the issue concerning breweries donating to vernacular schools.

According to him, there are more serious issues concerning the Malays that they should be concerned about.

“The Malays suffer from other serious addictions that these leaders should be concerned with. Drug addiction is never talked about. Sex addiction is equally serious.

“How many husbands cheated on their first wives and got themselves married in Thailand? These leaders should put a stop to this,” Zaid said on X today.

“Terengganu had to segregate crowds in their stadiums to temper temptations, which could lead to sexual activities. Is this not addiction?”

Zaid was commenting on the strong opposition from politicians on both sides of the divide against the brewery donation issue.

In addition to criticisms from Perikatan Nasional leaders, “friendly fire” has come from Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh.

Elaborating, Zaid said among the issues that need more attention is the sexual assaults of young boys in schools, including religious ones.

He rued that not many such cases see the perpetrators dismissed, let alone prosecuted for their crimes.

“In this country, many nasty things are done but the culprits hide under religion. There are so many cases of religious teachers being reported involved in sexual activities.

“There are so many serious problems affecting the Malay community, and yet their leaders are only angry with beer, gambling and the Chinese. They don’t care about their people,” said the former Umno lawmaker.

PAS, Gerakan ‘acting’ over beer saga

Separately, Umno supreme council member Puad Zarkashi accused PAS and Gerakan of “acting” like they are opposing each other on the brewery donation issue.

In a statement, Puad said “mosquito party” Gerakan would not dare quit PN to begin with, as it would have nowhere else to go.

“Gerakan will not quit PN. Both PAS and Gerakan are acting. Gerakan knows that PAS is only putting up a front on the issue to gain power.

“Believe me, if PAS comes to power, it will follow whatever Gerakan says on issues concerning alcoholic beverages. All would be justified then,” Puad wrote on Facebook.

“PAS knows Gerakan is only threatening (to leave). It (Gerakan) is a ‘mosquito’ party, which wouldn’t dare quit PN. It does not have anywhere else to beg.”

Disappointed with Gerakan’s support of such donations, PAS information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari previously said the Islamist party may not maintain its alliance with the former, in the 16th general election.

In response, Gerakan deputy president Oh Tong Keong said the party will not hesitate to quit PN if it means defending Chinese education.

Oh further urged PAS to stop acting like the “taikor” (big brother) and demand compliance from all other parties which make up PN.

PN election director Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor later waded into the issue, urging Gerakan to quit the coalition if it does not respect the Malays and Islam in the country.

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