Mat Sabu under attack: Bukit Kepong remarks an insult, says Muhyiddin

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the alleged remarks by PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu that the communist terrorists (CTs) who attacked the Bukit Kepong police station in the 1950s were the true heroes of the country, was an insult to those who had fought for the country's freedom.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that he was extremely disappointed that Mohammed Sabu better known as Mat Sabu had allegedly made such remarks at a political talk in Tasek Gelugor, Penang on Aug 21, as was reported by a local daily.

Muhyiddin said the PAS leader was also reported to have claimed that Malaysia's former prime ministers, the late Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj and the late Datuk Onn Jaafar, did not qualify to be called freedom fighters.

"He has arrogantly hailed the CTs as heroes. Such remarks are a manifestation of Mat Sabu's ignorance of the contributions of past Malay leaders in the fight to gain independence for Malaysia," he said in a statement here Saturday.

Muhyiddin stressed that Mat Sabu should apologise to all Malaysians if he had made the irresponsible comments.

"He (Mat Sabu) has forgotten that it was because of their (past Malay leaders) struggle that Malays were inspired to rise up to oppose the English colonists and the Malayan Union.

"It was because of the contributions of these Malay leaders that the Malays rose up to be united and formed associations which later gave birth to Umno to fight for independence and defend the sovereignty of the Malay rulers, Malay rights, the Malay language and Islam," said Muhyiddin.

Muhyiddin further described Mat Sabu as being blind to history because he was willing to hail people who were cruel and murderers (the CTs).

"The communist struggle was not to liberate the people from colonialism. Instead, they (CTs) wanted to form a communist country and rule with an iron fist," he said, adding that the people who lived in that era knew only to well their cruel and murderous ways whereby after the Japanese surrendered (at the end of the Second World War) they went on a killing and rioting spree and not even sparing innocent people.

Meanwhile, Pagoh Barisan Nasional Youth chief Ismail Mohamed today lodged a police report at the Pagoh police station in Muar, Johor over the alleged remarks made by Mohamad Sabu which were published in a local daily.

According to the report, Mat Sabu, when giving the talk, had allegedly claimed that the CTs who attacked and killed 25 police personnel and their families in the Bukit Kepong tragedy were the real heroes as they were actually fighting the British.

-- BERNAMA