Ku Nan: Tajuddin need not apologise over ‘slap’ remarks

(The Star) – Umno will not demand that Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman apologise to the Chinese community over his slap remarks, said party secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor (pix).

In a Sin Chew Daily report on Friday evening, Tengku Adnan was quoted as saying that the Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister’s slap remarks happened due to a miscommunication.

He said the miscommunication might have happened because Tajuddin felt that some local Chinese had sought help from China, which led to his outburst.

“I can understand his feelings. The same thing happened when I initially misunderstood China’s ambassador (to Malaysia) Huang Huikang’s remark, and I was very mad.

“Huang’s remark was twisted by DAP leader Ronnie Liu. The envoy never mentioned Chinese Malaysians but citizens of China. The remark was twisted into a diplomatic row,” he was quoted as saying.

Tajuddin denied using words such as lempang and tampar (to slap) Chinese who highlighted complaints outside the country.

The Pasir Salak MP said such words “are not suitable for a veteran politician like me”.

At a press conference during the launch of the Herbal Asia 2015 exhibition, Tajuddin warned Malaysian Chinese not to complain about the Government to foreigners and hoped to be protected by foreign governments. Such Malaysians, he said, should be lempang by him.

Tajuddin said later that he was “only reminding” the Chinese who hoped to benefit from taking their complaints overseas.

However, recordings put up by news portals show that he did use the word, although he seems to have said it in jest as he laughed it off immediately.

MCA leaders condemned Tajuddin’s statement and told him to apologise.