Home Minister just “joking” in calling Tiga Line gang his “friends”, says Nur Jazlan

Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed (pic) has come out to defend Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today saying the latter was "only joking" when he described the outlawed Tiga Line gang as "friends" in a closed event in Malacca over the weekend.

“His joke was taken out of context.  What he meant was that they were Malays and so too were the audience at the function," Nur Jazlan told The Malaysian Insider in a telephone interview.

Nur Jazlan, who is also Pulai MP, said he was present at the event, "Security briefing ceremony with community leaders", held at the Malacca International Trade Centre (MITC) in Ayer Keroh on Saturday.

In defending Ahmad Zahid, Nur Jazlan explained that after making the statement which was meant as a joke, the home minister took a serious stand and warned that he will take action against all gang members.

“I was there listening to his speech from the beginning to the end. What was highlighted to the public were just bits and pieces of the whole speech,” said Nur Jazlan.

He said others who were present at the event were Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim and Tabung Haji chairman Datuk Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim. All three are contesting for seats on the Umno supreme council while Ahmad Zahid is defending his vice-president's post.

In the function, Ahmad Zahid appeared to have endorsed the actions of the Tiga Line gang, which was on a list of 49 secret societies released by the Home Ministry in August.

He called them his "friends" and urged them to "do what they needed to do".

Ahmad Zahid also warned journalists who were present not to report what he had said to the audience, insisting it was a closed-door event, before later telling them to leave.

However, news portal Malaysiakini obtained a 20-minute recording of Ahmad Zahid's speech, in which he addressed Umno delegates.

Ahmad Zahid started out by declaring that police were colour blind in their operations and explained that they have questioned 178,217 Malays, 77,104 Chinese, 73,505 Indians and 55,517 from other races in their crackdown on gangs.

It was then that Ahmad Zahid's words reportedly took a strange twist.

"The biggest drug dealers are Chinese, the smaller dealers are Indians and the users are Malays," said Ahmad Zahid adding that he was the home minister because of Malay support which had carried him to an Umno vice-presidency.

"On internet gambling, the bosses are Chinese, the operators are Indians and the patrons are Malays. Therefore the actual victims are Malays.

Ahmad Zahid had also reportedly said that 28,000 of the 40,000 gang members identified are 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.

"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 had said.