Neither police reports nor Umno pressure will veer Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy from speaking up for what is right.

dap abolish isa forum 230908 p ramasamy "I won't be worried or afraid to speak out against discrimination of any form against any Malaysian in this country," he told Malaysiakini today.

Referring to the police report lodged by Umno Bayan Baru Youth leader Norman Zahalan on Sunday, Ramasamy said he would not cowed by intimidation tactic deployed by Umno to stifle his voice.

The Youth wing is asking the former UKM academic to apologise and retract his statement.

He is adamant on not apologising for his statement in the Penang assembly last Thursday - that Umno policies have adversely affected the participation of many Malaysians in government.

"Umno marginalisation is so severe that non-Malays have become insignificant in public administration," he said.

He said the Umno’s monopolisation of power through a divide-and-rule policy, has divided the people and marginalised minorities, especially in the public sector.

He was bemused that Umno was trying to twist and turn his statement by implying that he is stirring up Malays by his allegation that non-Malay application forms submitted to the civil service are torn and thrown away.

penang world heritage town 140708 01 "At no point I said Malays were discriminating non-Malays.

"I only blamed Umno for engineering the marginalisation," he stressed.

In his speech last week, he repudiated claims by several Umno assemblypersons that he was making wild accusations, insisting the veracity of his data based on his own study.

Ramasamy (DAP–Prai) was replying to a written question raised by Pakatan Rakyat backbencher RS Nethaji Rayer (DAP-Seri Delima) on how the new government intends to rectify ethnic and gender imbalance in its civil service.

Telling numbers

The numbers revealed by Ramasamy then were worrying, with 82 percent of the public sector in multicultural Penang dominated by Malays.

breakdown of public service sector in penang 131108 The state’s public administration and statutory bodies are 92 percent and 72 percent Malay respectively.

Ramasamy’s disclosure did not sit well with Norman, who lodged the police report.

"Why should I apologise for telling the truth?

"I have even revealed this in Parliament," said the Batu Kawan MP.

Ramasamy - the executive councillor in charge of economic planning, education, human resources and science, technology and innovation - pointed out that the Pakatan Rakyat state government was going all out to wipe racial and gender discrimination in both public and private sectors without fear and favour.

pakatan rakyat penang rally 160608 05 The state policy is also intended to balance racial and gender composition in the private sector.

"We were voted in by Penangites wanting a change in governance, thus we want to make the change from a racist Umno policy to a non-racist people policy.

"We must reverse Umno policies and bring about change for the better," he said, adding that Pakatan-elected representatives are facing mounting pressure from the electorate to do just that.