KL Minister proposes pre-emptive strike against saboteur Chinese Businesses. Because "Racism" is such an ugly word.

Police to summon KL minister over racist Facebook post

FEBRUARY 2, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR — Police will call Umno minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to give a statement over his Facebook post urging Malays to boycott Chinese businesses, Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said.

Mr Khalid tweeted at his handle @KBAB51 yesterday evening, asking all parties to “immediately exercise restraints in making (public) statements”.

“It hurts our racial harmony,” he added.

Mr Ismail, the agriculture and agro-based industries minister, came under fire yesterday for posting on his Facebook account that Malay consumers had a role to play in helping the government fight profiteers by using their collective power to lower the price of goods.

“Forgive me for sharing my views, but besides the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism, which uses the Price Control Act and the Anti-Profiteering Act to act against traders who raise their prices indiscriminately, the greatest power lies with the consumers.

“The majority of consumers are Malay, Chinese are a minority, if the Malays boycott their businesses, they will surely have no choice but to reduce their prices,” he had said in a post on the social networking site.



Democratic Action Party’s (DAP) Lim Kit Siang had earlier taken the police to task for not acting against Mr Ismail Sabri, and said that if a similar remark had been made by an opposition politician against Malay traders, Inspector-General Khalid would have immediately taken action.

“Has the Inspector-General of Police’s (IGP) Twitter account broken down or is Bukit Aman having problems with Internet access,” the DAP parliamentary leader said in a statement earlier.

Mr Ismail was also criticised by his Cabinet colleague, Wee Ka Siong, who is minister in the prime minister’s department.

Mr Wee is also deputy president of the Malaysia Chinese Association (MCA), the senior Chinese party in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

Mr Ismail had confirmed to The Malaysian Insider that he did indeed post the comments on his Facebook account.

[Okay. Now I'm wondering if The Malaysian Insider is just proud that they checked and confirmed the facts, rather than just reporting hearsay. But good that they do, and I should not make fun of them for doing so and saying so.]

The post has been shared numerous times by other Facebook users and several also congratulated him for being “bold”.

As criticism poured in, Ismail told The Malaysian Insider that his statement was directed only at the Chinese businesses who had refused to lower their prices.

In his post, Ismail had also singled out the OldTown White Coffee café chain owned by OldTown Bhd, alleging that Perak DAP adviser Datuk Ngeh Khoo Ham owned shares in the company.

“Malays are still refusing to boycott (OldTown White Coffee), what more when its owner is said to be the Ngeh family of Perak who are known to be anti-Islam.

“As long as the Malays don’t change, the Chinese will take the opportunity to oppress the Malays,” the minister had said. 

["Racism" is an ugly word, but unfortunately it seems to apply here.]

THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER

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Malaysia minister asks Malays to boycott Chinese businesses to reduce prices

FEBRUARY 2

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s agriculture and agro-based industries minister has called for Malay consumers to “boycott” Chinese-owned businesses who have been raising their prices indiscriminately, claiming this will leave businesses no choice but to reduce their prices.

In his Facebook post today (Feb 2), which has since been removed, Mr Ismail Sabri Yaakob said Malay consumers could play a part in helping the government to fight profiteers, by using their collective power to lower the price of goods.

“Forgive me for sharing my views, but besides the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism, which uses the Price Control Act and the Anti-Profiteering Act to act against traders who raise their prices indiscriminately, the greatest power lies with consumers,” he wrote.

“The majority of consumers are Malay, Chinese are a minority, if the Malays boycott their businesses, they will surely have no choice but to reduce their prices,” he added.

Citing the example of the Old Town White Coffee chain owned by OldTown, he claimed the company had links to DAP’s Ngeh Khoo Ham and accused the Ngeh’s family as being “anti-Islam”.

“As long as the Malays don’t change, the Chinese will take the opportunity to oppress the Malays,” he said.

The former domestic trade and consumerism minister had confirmed to The Malaysian Insider that the statement was made by him on his Facebook account.

[Damn! Now he can't claim that his Facebook account was hacked!]

He clarified that his statement was directed at Chinese businesses that he said were “reluctant” to lower their prices. “I am referring to Chinese traders who are reluctant to reduce the prices of goods even though the price of petrol has come down,” he said.

“What I want to emphasise is for people not to depend solely on the government to ensure the price of goods comes down because as consumers, they can use their power to pressure businesses,” he added.

In subsequent Facebook posts to explain his actions, Mr Ismail said he was responding to a Facebook post made by consumers, who were angry at some Chinese businesses for not lowering prices despite declining oil prices. He added that it was not directed to all Chinese but to Chinese wholesalers and dealers who did not lower their prices.

“The action of businesses who did not want to reduce prices despite a big drop in oil prices can be perceived as a sabotage to incite the people’s anger towards the government,” he wrote.

[Right. So this is just a pre-emptive strike against saboteur businesses! Brilliant!]

He reiterated that consumers should not rely on the government to protect them from price hikes, but should instead use their power as consumers to decrease prices, rather than simply talking about it on Facebook. He also pointed out if prices fall as a result of this pressure, Chinese consumers will benefit as well.

Mr Ismail’s original post had been shared numerous times by other Facebook users and several also congratulated him for being “bold” in his statement.


MALAY MAIL ONLINE,
THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER