Ismail Sabri regrets statement on Chinese traders, report says
Umno minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob who courted controversy by urging Malays to boycott Chinese traders now says he regrets making the statement, The Star reported.
The agriculture and agro-based industries minister was also quoted as saying that he had not intended to create any racial tension as his remarks were targeted at traders who did not want to lower prices of goods, irrespective of race.
"My comments have gone viral. I regret the statement has led to racial sentiments," he reportedly said.
According to The Star, Ismail's statement was made on his Facebook page last night. A check on the page showed such a statement posted by one Roslay Raffie on the minister's Facebook wall.
In the statement attributed to Ismail, he said the backlash to his boycott call had been discussed at a cabinet meeting chaired by the prime minister, where Datuk Seri Najib Razak urged all parties to focus on fostering national unity.
Meanwhile, a separate report in the English daily said that MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai accepted the minister's expression of regret and urged everyone to move on.
"As my colleague, Datuk Seri Ismail has officially issued a statement of regret, and as a member of Cabinet, I take note of his statement of regret and hope that this matter is put to rest and we shall move on," said Liow, who is also transport minister.
Earlier last week, Ismail posted on his Facebook a call for Malay consumers to boycott Chinese businesses as a move to fight profiteering.
"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.
"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 the post which has since been removed.
He also singled out the OldTown White Coffee café chain owned by OldTown Bhd, saying the Ngeh family of Perak owned shares in the company.
"Malays are still refusing to boycott (OldTown White Coffee), what more when its owner is said to be the DAP 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," said Ismail.
This prompted DAP politician Ngeh Koo Ham, who is Beruas MP, to demand an apology from Ismail for allegedly making false accusations.
But the Umno minister shrugged off the demand, saying that his remarks had not specifically mentioned “Ngeh Koo Ham”.
Ngeh has said that he will sue Ismail after the latter refused to apologise.
Ismail's boycott statement was cleared by the Prime Minister's Department, which said that he was not targeting any race but making a general call to all traders to lower the prices of goods. – February 13, 2015.
