All Malaysians are migrants ultimately, Saudara Ahmad Ismail

Did Anwar Ibrahim, PKR, PAS and the Pakatan Rakyat come out strongly against what was allegedly said by that Bukit Bendera Umno chief Ahmad Ismail about Malaysian Chinese....It is very very important for the 'other than Malaysian of Chinese descendancy' to also come out very strongly on these issues.

Bukit Bendera Umno division chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail had called the Chinese pendatang (immigrants) at a ceramah prior to the Permatang Pauh by-election. - Star Online, 3/9/2008,Najib: Umno apologises

Reading out a 16-page statement, Ahmad recollected his by-election rally speech and did not deny it contained the statement that “Chinese were immigrants squatting in this country”. - Malaysiakini, 5/9/2008, Penang Umno backs Ahmad, snubs Pak Lah

We all know that our DPM, Mohd Najib Razak, did come out and apologize for and on behalf of UMNO

Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has apologised for the statement made by one of the party's division leaders which resulted in a lot of criticism from the Chinese community.

“We will apologise. Umno apologises,” he told a press conference after launching the Chery Eastar multi-purpose vehicle at a hotel here yesterday.

“It (The comment) was totally unwarranted and doesn’t reflect the position and attitude of Umno or the leadership of Umno. We regret it very much,” he said. - Star Online, 3/9/2008,Najib: Umno apologises

We all know that even Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had said "I’ll make sure to tell him not to use it again"

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will personally see to it that Bukit Bendera Umno chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail does not repeat his remarks about the Chinese community.

“I will tell him not to do it again. You know in a campaign all sorts of things can come up. I don’t think he meant it. I’ll make sure to tell him not to use it again,” the Prime Minister said after chairing the Bertam Umno division meeting yesterday.

Ahmad had allegedly called the Chinese pendatang (immigrants) and was also reported to have said that “as the Chinese were only immigrants it was impossible to achieve equal rights amongst races” during a ceramah in Permatang Pauh in Aug 25.

He had allegedly uttered the remarks in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. - Star, 31/8/2008 -Ahmad didn’t mean it, says Abdullah

I just read the Malaysiakini report 'Penang Umno backs Ahmad, snubs Pak Lah', and am very disturbed by this new turn of events about this whole issue surrounding alleged words used by the said Ahmad Ismail

Backed by all 13 Umno divisions from Penang, the embattled Bukit Bendera Umno division chief Ahmad Ismail today fervently defended his stand not to apologise for his alleged racist remarks against the Chinese community.

MCPX

All Penang Umno divisions, including Prime Minister and Umno president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's Kepala Batas, fully supported Ahmad's stance, which erupted into a national furore since last week. - Malaysiakini, 5/9/2008 Penang Umno backs Ahmad, snubs Pak Lah

He also did issue a 16-page statement, which you can read in Malaysiakini at http://www.malaysiakini.com/doc/ahmad_ismail.php.

While I agree, that maybe injustice has been done to the said Ahmad Ismail by the media - with him not really been given the chance to respond and clarify earlier, I must state that there are many things in that current statement which is really unbecoming of an UMNO leader after 51 years of Independence. The statement only fuels divisions rather that forging unity of the Malaysian people.

At the same time, I do not think that Najib (who apparently was there when the remarks were made) would not have apologized if what had come out in the media was not true.

He had allegedly uttered the remarks in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. - Star, 31/8/2008 -Ahmad didn’t mean it, says Abdullah

It is very important NOW that Anwar Ibrahim, the PKR, PAS and Pakatan Rakyat also respond strongly to this new statement, more so since it is coming from a person allegedly a Malay Muslim and the statement refers to Malaysian Chinese. If only the Malaysian leaders from the Chinese ethnic groups respond - it may provide an opportunity to cause a rift that may be exploited to even declare an emergency in light of threat of change of government by September 16.

Let not it be a fight between one ethnic group and another BUT rather between concerned progressive mature Malaysians against other conservative 'racial' divisive Malaysians.

We also wait and see how that Barisan Nasional (and/or UMNO) will react to what this minor UMNO member said about the President of one of the major BN parties.

Ahmad Ismail also forgets that human persons and migration is something that has always been happening. At the end of the day, we can only talk about who migrated here first, and who came later. Of course, the first people of Malaysia were the Orang Asli (Temuan, Negrito, Mah Meri, etc...) and in fact they are still the most impoverished and oppressed of the different Malaysian ethnic groups. Borders were created and changed from time to time - and at the end of the day, it was the colonial powers that ended up deciding where the borders are - and many a times, these are not at all the natural borders.

There has been so much of movement - so much so it is becoming more and more difficult to identify persons as being pure this ethnic group or that. Different ethnic groups have mixed - and today, we are more Malaysian than any ethnic group. Our Prime Minister is married to a Eurasian, a former Catholic Christian... Our former Prime Minister was said to have Malayalee blood flowing through his veins. We have so many in the West Coast who are Indonesian descendants..and in the North, there are many with Thai blood.

After 51 years, we must be talking about Malaysians - just Malaysians.

UNITY under a single Nation - one people should be the priority.