PAS to Nga: 'Which side did your grandfather fight for?'

Summary

• PAS info chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari questions Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming about a five-year-old posting about his grandfather in the army.

• Fadhli says his questions were posed in the context of Nga’s recent ‘crude’ statements.

PAS information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari has raised questions over Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming’s statement five years ago that the DAP leader’s grandfather had served in the army during World War II.

Taking to Facebook, Fadhli cited Nga’s post in 2019 that his grandfather, along with Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh’s grandfather, should be honoured for their roles as soldiers who fought to defend the nation during the Japanese occupation.

“Looking at your recent crude language, I would like to ask once again, on which side did your grandfather fight during WWll?

“There must be evidence, service records, and others,” said the Pasir Mas MP.

PAS recently targeted Nga and Yeoh over remarks that the party claimed posed a threat to Islam, with one party leader taking issue with a Christmas carol performance at the Housing and Local Government Ministry in Putrajaya.

A Dec 24 video (above) on Nga’s Facebook account showed ministry staff singing the song “Jingle Bells” – a song about the joy of riding a sleigh in the snow – and the song “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

Nga in response advised PAS leaders to repent, stop sharing slander, or disrupting the harmony of a multiracial society.

He said the event reflected the spirit of mutual respect and harmony among ministry staff, and pledged not to succumb to “bigots, bigotry, and extremists”.

‘Nga wouldn’t be proud of a communist’

Meanwhile, five hours later, Fadhli posted again, sarcastically defending Nga from commenters accusing the minister’s grandfather of fighting for the communists.

“In my earlier posting, I only asked the ‘crude-mouthed’ minister about the battles of his grandfather, but I was saddened when many commenters on the post linked it to the communist struggle.

“I do not feel that is the case. Even though a person cannot be associated with the battles of another, even of their father’s or grandfather’s, but when (Nga) announced (his grandfather’s battles) with pride, then it is highly improbable that his grandfather fought for the communists,” said Fadhli.

“Surely he (Nga) wouldn’t be proud of a communist. I believe he is crude, but I don’t believe he is glorifying the communist struggle of that era.

“I am confident his grandfather was a great fighter,” said Fadhli, who went on to call for the Communications Ministry to make a movie out of the battles fought by the grandfather of “that crude minister”.

“If Parliament is in session now, I will suggest the idea in the Dewan Rakyat.

“It may even be good to rank how great the battles were. If not five stars, maybe four stars or three stars. Pakatan Harapan-BN supporters must be happy with what I’m writing here,” he said.

Malaysiakini has reached out to Nga for comments.

According to media reports in 2018, Nga’s grandfather Ni Zhi Xiang joined the Nanyang Volunteer Mechanic and Drivers - a group of about 3,200 truck drivers and mechanics who plied the Yunnan-Burma Road during the Sino-Japanese War.

Members of the group were recruited from the Chinese diaspora living in Southeast Asia.

The Yunnan-Burma Road was a vital lifeline supplying the Republic of China Armed Forces’ war effort against the Japanese after its access to foreign aid by sea was cut off.

Nga’s grandfather reportedly departed from Singapore to join the group in February 1939 despite his family’s objections.

Though he survived the war, the political instability that ensued in China meant he was unable to return to his wife and children, and he died of illness there in 1979.

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