Ahmad Zahid shows 1Malaysia is dead, says DAP, as calls grow for his sacking

Failure to act against Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for his racist taunts and alleged support for hoodlums, including his warning that police would shoot criminals first, is proof that 1Malaysia is dead, said DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng (pic).

In a strongly worded statement, Lim said, “At the rate Umno leaders are abandoning the ideal of a Malaysian nation and spewing racial hatred, Umno will in future be no different from the Nazi stormtroopers who advocated racial purity and supremacy.

“I still find it hard to believe that a home minister entrusted to uphold law and order can so flippantly make such shocking, recklessly irresponsible and unacceptable provocations that promote lawlessness and public disorder.”

Several opposition figures and rights activists have condemned Ahmad Zahid for his remarks and called for his removal from the cabinet.

DAP vice-chair Teresa Kok described Ahmad Zahid, who will be defending his vice-presidency post at the coming Umno election, as the most unfit home minister the country ever had.

"In their effort to whip up support for the upcoming Umno elections, some of the candidates have come up with political garbage and racial remarks which have angered Malaysians.

"Ahmad Zahid has not only become a disgrace to himself; he has also become a disgrace to the Cabinet. The government and the nation cannot have a home minister who holds extreme and dangerous views, and one who abuses his powers," Kok said in a statement.

Rights group Suaram also echoed Kok's call on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak “to do the right thing” and sack Ahmad Zahid.

Suaram slammed Ahmad Zahid, calling him an "unabashed racist" who has been exposed as a crypto-supporter of the Tiga Line gang, referring to an underworld group which the minister allegedly called his "friends".

The Tiga Line group was on a list of 49 secret societies released by the Home Ministry in August amid promises by the authorities to crack down on these groups.

Ahmad Zahid was recorded as saying at a function last Friday that police would not hesitate to “shoot criminals first and ask questions later”.

A recording of his words was made available to a news portal.

He had allegedly taken a racial line when he said that 28,000 of the 40,000 gang members were of Indian ethnicity, and that there was nothing wrong in detaining them.

"What is the situation of robbery victims, murder victims during shootings? Most of them are Malays. Most of them are our race," said Ahmad Zahid.

"I think the best way is that we no longer compromise with them. There is no need to give them any more warning. If we get the evidence, we shoot first," he was reported as saying.