It’s not often you get an apology from Najib, much less over racial remarks. But why isn’t Ahmad apologising? The next Supreme Council meeting will discuss what “appropriate action” to take against him. Don’t hold your breath. Anyway, this fiasco is not going to improve public support for the BN, is it?
Reading between the lines, the devastating impact on BN component parties must have been serious enough for Najib to come out and apologise.
This report from Bernama reproduced in The Star:
KUALA LUMPUR: Umno, the backbone of the ruling Barisan Nasional government, has issued a public apology over a remark made by Bukit Bendera Umno division head Datuk Ahmad Ismail during the Permatang Pauh parliamentary by-election last month.
“We hope that the non-Malays will not be too disturbed with the statement and we apologise if it has incurred the sensitivities or unhappiness over the statement.
“We apologise, Umno apologises although it is not our statement but it is a statement made by one of our division leaders. It is totally unwarranted and does not reflect the position and the attitude of Umno or the leadership of Umno. We regret it very much,” Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who is also Umno deputy president, said here on Tuesday.
In the run-up to the Permatang Pauh by-election, Ahmad had said at a ceramah that the Chinese community were mere “immigrants” in the country and thus were not entitled to be given equal rights in Malaysia.
Contrast that with this article from Malaysian Insider and you will understand why the BN has lost so much support, even if some Malaysians may not really like Anwar: