Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said the recent remarks by Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi against dissenters of Malaysia’s electoral system should be taken in the entire context of his article in Utusan Malaysia.
Khairy, who is Youth and Sports Minister, said Dr Ahmad Zahid was giving his personal views when he told those who cannot accept the country’s electoral system to emigrate.
He added that the view of the Umno vice-president – first carried in the paper before it went viral – did not reflect the government’s stand.
“It is his own personal view and it does not reflect the government’s views,” he said here yesterday.
Khairy said Dr Ahmad Zahid’s statement should be seen in the context of the entire article in the paper.
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Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said the recent remarks by Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi against dissenters of Malaysia’s electoral system should be taken in the entire context of his article in Utusan Malaysia
Khairy, who is Youth and Sports Minister, said Dr Ahmad Zahid was giving his personal views when he told those who cannot accept the country’s electoral system to emigrate.
He added that the view of the Umno vice-president – first carried in the paper before it went viral – did not reflect the government’s stand.
“It is his own personal view and it does not reflect the government’s views,” he said here yesterday.
Khairy said Dr Ahmad Zahid’s statement should be seen in the context of the entire article in the paper.
“He was conveying that Malaysia has the first-past-the-post system and that everyone should accept the GE13 results based on that system,” he said.
In his column in the Malay daily, Dr Ahmad Zahid said the claim by the Opposition front that they had won the May 5 polls by popular vote was an interpretation of the list system, or single transferable vote.
He reminded Malaysia had inherited the first-past-the-post system from Britain, adding that those who did not want to follow this system could emigrate where the list system was practised, such as in some republican nations.
“If they are truly loyal citizens, they will accept the political and electoral system as enshrined in our Federal Constitution. They also have to admit the truth of defeat in the first-past-the-post system,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Ahmad Zahid’s view has drawn a lot of flak from other politicians, including Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
“If that’s the case, should all Barisan Nasional supporters in Penang, Selangor and Kelantan leave their states?” he asked.
DAP publicity chief Tony Pua said the Umno vice-president was denying Malaysians the right to a better voting system by telling them to emigrate.
“Malaysia’s political boundaries have been corrupted over the past decades although the first-past-the-post system allows political parties or coalitions to win elections despite losing the popular vote,” he said.
Gerakan Youth secretary-general Dr Dominic Lau said Dr Ahmad Zahid’s statement was arrogant and disrespectful and an example of statements that caused urban and non-Malay voters to abandon the ruling coalition.
“As the government, it is their job to convince the dissenters why the elections results are legitimate but not by telling them to leave the country,” he said.
Selangor PKR Youth vice-chairman Azmizam Zaman Huri said Dr Ahmad Zahid’s statement showed the Barisan Nasional was not ready to face the people’s choice.
“His statement is a mere smoke screen to divert from the issue of fraudulent elections,” he said.
