Sungai Rapat state assemblyperson Hamidah Osman, who caused a furore in the Perak legislative assembly on Friday with her racial slur, has publicly apologised for hurting the Indian community.

hamidah othman At a packed press conference in the Ipoh Country Club this morning, the Barisan Nasional elected representative issued the public apology before newsmen, saying that it was not her intention to hurt the Indian community with a racial slur.

"I have already retracted my statement in the House and now, I am offering my humble and sincere apology here to all Indians for uttering the racist remarks in the heat of the moment.

"I regret for saying that and promise not to repeat it anywhere anymore," said a visibly moved Hamidah, who plans to embark on a 'constituency road-show' to explain and apologise over the incident to electorates in Gopeng, which encompasses Sungai Rapat.

Her apology came in the wake of several police reports lodged by Perak Indian-based public interests groups such as cultural-based organisation Ipoh Tamilar Tirunaal (ITT) organising committee, which has 30 Indian NGO affiliates.

Remarks spark furore

ITT advisor M Mathialagan, a lawyer, lodged the report condemning Hamidah's racial slur and called upon her to openly apologise to all Indian Malaysians.

During a fiery state assembly meeting in Ipoh yesterday, Hamidah earned the wrath of Pakatan Rakyat assemblypersons when she asked whether speaker Sivakumar (an Indian) 'agreed to disagree' with a well-known fable of whether a snake or a man from a certain racial community should be killed first.

Her 'un-assembly-like' question sparked a furore, prompting Pakatan Rakyat elected representatives led by executive councillor Nga Kor Ming (DAP–Pantai Remis) to demand that she retracts her words.

sivakumar perak speaker However, Hamidah maintained her innocence and said she was merely asking if Sivakumar "agreed to disagree" with it.

The speaker who is also DAP Tronoh assemblyperson instead let her off the hook with a mere warning of "not to repeat such sensitive remarks."

She later retracted her words.

Hamidah was roundly criticised by elected representatives and public interests groups from inside and outside Perak for uttering racist remarks in the House.

DAP Buntong state assemblyperson A Sivasubramaniam did not mince his words, labeling her “a racist upholding BN tradition of racial brand politics”.

“It is ungainly graceless for a people's representative to utter such racist remarks against the speaker and his community,” he said.

Playing with fire

Sivasubramaniam also said Hamidah's remarks was proof that BN, particularly Umno, had yet to accept its electoral defeat and conform to the reality that “a speaker of Indian origin was presiding the House”.

“She and Umno are playing with fire by hurting the racial sentiment of others,” he told Malaysiakini.

Meanwhile, Penang's Datuk Keramat assemblyperson Jagdeep Singh Deo said the Perak assembly should have suspended Hamidah immediately and referred her to the Privileges Committee for disciplinary action.

Over the years, Jagdeep's father, Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh has had in several instances clashed with Barisan MPs in Parliament over similar racist remarks that implicitly portrayed “the Indian community as more venomous than a snake”.

The Penang assemblyperson said Hamidah's racial slur clearly showed BN had not learnt its lessons from the last general election.

He suggested that another round of elections would remind the coalition that “its racial brand politics no longer appeals to the majority of Malaysians”.

However, a Perak government insider said Hamidah was not referred to the Privilege Committee because she was deliberately left to “suffer public condemnation”.

“She could have become an Umno 'heroine' and evaded public humiliation since she would gain 'immunity' if referred to the committee.

“The game plan worked to force Hamidah to come out and openly apologise to Indians in Perak and the country as well,” the insider said.