GE13 WATCH SELANGOR BN's Shah Alam parliamentary candidate Zulkifli Noordin believes that he is now "reborn", having chosen to join BN after leaving the opposition in 2010.
"This is ‘marupiravi' (Tamil for rebirth) for me," he told a crowd of watchful MIC members during a small ceramah in Shah Alam yesterday.
Zulkifli, who gained notoriety after he was caught on video insulting Hindus - an incident he claims was filmed 10 years ago - appears to have armed himself with a handful of Tamil words to show he is capable of bonding with the Indian electorate, who make up 14 percent of the 100,076 voters in Shah Alam.
He is not shy to discuss the controversial video whenever he takes the stage, using it as "evidence" of the "indoctrination of hate" by PAS and Pakatan Rakyat, on which he is now blaming his racist indiscretion.
"This is what they preach. They teach Malays to hate Chinese and Indians, and vice versa.
"And they even pit Malays to hate each other. For them, anyone who is not with them is an enemy," he told some 300 Shah Alam MIC members.
He uses "amma, appa" (mother, father) liberally in addressing the crowd during his spiel, and has an offbeat analogy to describe the role of Indians in Malaysia's nation building.
"Malaysia is like ‘sireh' (betel leaf). The betel leaves are the Malays, the betel nut (pinang) are the Chinese, while the Indians are the ‘kapur' (Malay for limestone paste).
"The portion for ‘soonambu' (Tamil for limestone paste) might be small but it's very important for the betel," he said.
Zul to save Shah Alam from sin
BN chief Najib Abdul Razak's choice of Zulkifli as the candidate in the Selangor capital has raised eyebrows as his vitriolic remarks in the video had hardly dissipated when the announcement was made.
And despite his reputation as a hardliner and a firebrand in the Malay supremacist group Perkasa, he has rather mellowed down during his campaigning.
He hardly appears in solo programmes, preferring in his packed daily schedule to tag along BN's state seat candidates Mohd Yusof Din for Kota Anggerik and Ahmad Nawawi Zin for Batu Tiga under Shah Alam.
"This is ‘marupiravi' (Tamil for rebirth) for me," he told a crowd of watchful MIC members during a small ceramah in Shah Alam yesterday.
Zulkifli, who gained notoriety after he was caught on video insulting Hindus - an incident he claims was filmed 10 years ago - appears to have armed himself with a handful of Tamil words to show he is capable of bonding with the Indian electorate, who make up 14 percent of the 100,076 voters in Shah Alam.He is not shy to discuss the controversial video whenever he takes the stage, using it as "evidence" of the "indoctrination of hate" by PAS and Pakatan Rakyat, on which he is now blaming his racist indiscretion.
"This is what they preach. They teach Malays to hate Chinese and Indians, and vice versa.
"And they even pit Malays to hate each other. For them, anyone who is not with them is an enemy," he told some 300 Shah Alam MIC members.
He uses "amma, appa" (mother, father) liberally in addressing the crowd during his spiel, and has an offbeat analogy to describe the role of Indians in Malaysia's nation building.
"Malaysia is like ‘sireh' (betel leaf). The betel leaves are the Malays, the betel nut (pinang) are the Chinese, while the Indians are the ‘kapur' (Malay for limestone paste).
"The portion for ‘soonambu' (Tamil for limestone paste) might be small but it's very important for the betel," he said.
Zul to save Shah Alam from sin
BN chief Najib Abdul Razak's choice of Zulkifli as the candidate in the Selangor capital has raised eyebrows as his vitriolic remarks in the video had hardly dissipated when the announcement was made.
And despite his reputation as a hardliner and a firebrand in the Malay supremacist group Perkasa, he has rather mellowed down during his campaigning.
He hardly appears in solo programmes, preferring in his packed daily schedule to tag along BN's state seat candidates Mohd Yusof Din for Kota Anggerik and Ahmad Nawawi Zin for Batu Tiga under Shah Alam.
Their strategy is to appear together for small ceramah to target audiences, whether Malays, Chinese or Indians, and usually involve other members of the BN component parties in the constituencies.
When asked about his chances of unseating PAS' incumbent Khalid Samad, Zulkifli remained confident and bullish.
"If people are not happy or not satisfied with me, I ask them to tell me face to face when we go for ceramah. We'll explain to them.
"I think the people here are well informed enough. They are intelligent and they would want to choose someone of their own standing.
"They don't want us to insult their intelligence, they already know which side is full of lies," he said of his opponent.
Asked about his plans if he elected, he said he would like to restore the "morality" of the city.
"Shah Alam has always been a place free of immoral activities. But once the opposition took over, all sorts of activities began taking place here.
"I will restore that morality here," he said, while claiming that there are not many telling issues in this constituency because a majority of the voters come from middle class and upper middle class groups.
MIC shaken and stirred
Zulkifli's candidacy has however undeniably caused a stir in MIC's ranks in Shah Alam.
Shah Alam MIC's vice-chairperson C Supayah and 104 other members quit the party in protest over his candidacy last week, and Supayah said he would ask his followers to throw their weight behind the opposition.
"As far as Shah Alam is concerned, I will be telling everyone not to vote for Zulkifli Noordin," he told Malaysiakini yesterday when contacted.
He also said that resentment over Zulkifli's candidacy is running deep among the Indian community, though many may not express it outright.
"The kind of support I have received for my actions (resignation) is so overwhelming that even I did not expect it," he added.
But the bigger risk for BN is the spillover effect of the Perkasa veep's candidacy to the neighbouring Kota Raja parliamentary seat, contested by MIC's S Murugesan (left), with a huge 29 percent Indian voter population.
Some MIC party workers in Kota Raja told Malaysiakini that Zulkifli's candidacy is a real concern, and that any possible presence by him in any of MIC's events there would only complicate things further.
When asked about his chances of unseating PAS' incumbent Khalid Samad, Zulkifli remained confident and bullish.
"If people are not happy or not satisfied with me, I ask them to tell me face to face when we go for ceramah. We'll explain to them.
"I think the people here are well informed enough. They are intelligent and they would want to choose someone of their own standing."They don't want us to insult their intelligence, they already know which side is full of lies," he said of his opponent.
Asked about his plans if he elected, he said he would like to restore the "morality" of the city.
"Shah Alam has always been a place free of immoral activities. But once the opposition took over, all sorts of activities began taking place here.
"I will restore that morality here," he said, while claiming that there are not many telling issues in this constituency because a majority of the voters come from middle class and upper middle class groups.
MIC shaken and stirred
Zulkifli's candidacy has however undeniably caused a stir in MIC's ranks in Shah Alam.
Shah Alam MIC's vice-chairperson C Supayah and 104 other members quit the party in protest over his candidacy last week, and Supayah said he would ask his followers to throw their weight behind the opposition.
"As far as Shah Alam is concerned, I will be telling everyone not to vote for Zulkifli Noordin," he told Malaysiakini yesterday when contacted.
He also said that resentment over Zulkifli's candidacy is running deep among the Indian community, though many may not express it outright.
"The kind of support I have received for my actions (resignation) is so overwhelming that even I did not expect it," he added.
But the bigger risk for BN is the spillover effect of the Perkasa veep's candidacy to the neighbouring Kota Raja parliamentary seat, contested by MIC's S Murugesan (left), with a huge 29 percent Indian voter population.Some MIC party workers in Kota Raja told Malaysiakini that Zulkifli's candidacy is a real concern, and that any possible presence by him in any of MIC's events there would only complicate things further.
However, Shah Alam MIC chief KS Suppiah has been making a passionate case for the community to "accept" Zulkifli as he is Najib's personal choice.
"We (Indians) never had a prime minister who would give us whatever we wanted.
"(But) I spoke to him the other day, and within 20 minutes, he approved allocations for a temple and to upgrade a school here," he said at the same ceramah yesterday.
"Can anyone insult Hinduism just like that? Plus, forgiveness is a human quality. Even opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim once threatened to close down temples.
"But we forgave him, so it's only fair we forgive Zulkifli, too," he said, urging his members not to vote with their emotions.
"‘Mannipom marappom' (forgive and forget)," Zulkifli told the crowd, again trying to impress with his newfound knowledge of Tamil.
"We (Indians) never had a prime minister who would give us whatever we wanted.
"(But) I spoke to him the other day, and within 20 minutes, he approved allocations for a temple and to upgrade a school here," he said at the same ceramah yesterday.
"Can anyone insult Hinduism just like that? Plus, forgiveness is a human quality. Even opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim once threatened to close down temples.
"But we forgave him, so it's only fair we forgive Zulkifli, too," he said, urging his members not to vote with their emotions.
"‘Mannipom marappom' (forgive and forget)," Zulkifli told the crowd, again trying to impress with his newfound knowledge of Tamil.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.