Apologise to CM now, Shaik Hussein told

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s political secretary has asked the state Umno Youth to apologise for alleging that his boss has marginalised the Indians in a speech at the DAP fundraising dinner.

Zairil Khir Johari (left) said based on the request of state Umno Youth chief Shaik Hussein Mydin, the CM’s office will post a video on Lim’s speech during the function last week, which was attended by about 3,000 people.

Zairil said that in his speech, Lim had mentioned that Pakatan Rakyat needed 90 percent support from non-Malays and 40 percent from the Malay community to retain its rule in Penang.

“A transcript of the speech which we have published clearly shows that Shaik Hussein was wrong in saying we did not mention the support of Indians,” he said at a press conference.

“In fact in his speech, which he spoke in Malay, Chinese and Hokkien, Lim had mentioned the need for support from the Indian community as well,” he added.

Zairil was responding to Shaik Hussein who had defended his statement, saying that an Indian friend who had attended the function related to him about Lim not seeking support from the community.

Shaik Hussein (right) had then requested Zairil to post a video of Lim’s speech in Malaysiakini, so that he can hear for himself whether Zairil’s concerns were true.

He offered to apologise over the matter if indeed Lim had mentioned the support of the Indian community.

Meanwhile, Zairil said since Shaik Hussein has said he would apologise to the CM if a video of the speech was posted in Malaysiakini, he should be doing so soon.

He said he would accept Shaik Hussein’s apology, but if he does not comply then he would consider the matter further.

“I hope he will apologise, since he had said he would do it if we published the video,” he told reporters.

“We will publish the video on YouTube as well so that he can hear it for himself, we will give him until tomorrow to apologise,” he added.

When asked, Shaik Hussein said he had viewed the clip but would prefer to see the full video script.

“It looks like the video has been doctored like Anwar Ibrahim’s video as claimed by the DAP,” he told Malaysiakini.

“Before I say sorry, I would like to ask the DAP to get forensic confirmation that the video is not doctored,” he added.

Shaik Hussein urged Zairil not to divert the public’s attention from the main issue - the absence of DAP national chairperson Karpal Singh, assemblypersons RSN Rayer (Seri Delima) and A Tanasekharan (Bagan Dalam) from the dinner.

Speculation was rife that the trio boycotted the dinner as they were upset over the decision of the party’s disciplinary committee to clear Deputy Chief Minister II and state DAP deputy chief P Ramasamy of misconduct.

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