Hishammuddin rates Ismail’s boycott call not as bad as Isis

Fellow Umno leader Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said today Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s racial rant against Chinese traders is nothing compared to atrocities committed by Isis militants. – The Malaysian Insider pic, February 7, 2015.

Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s racial rant against Chinese traders for refusing to bring down prices is nothing compared to the atrocities committed by Isis militants, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said today.

The defence minister said the remarks by his cabinet counterpart in charge of agriculture should not be used as a yardstick to define Malaysia's moderation agenda.

“If you want to talk about moderation, I think Isis burning the Jordanian pilot is far worse than this case involving Ismail Sabri,” he said at a press conference today referring to the incident this week where Isis militants had torched a Jordanian pilot locked in a cage and posted a video of the act online.

If anything, Hishammuddin said, Ismail Sabri’s remarks made in a Facebook post should spur all Malaysians to fight profiteering by traders.

“It has helped raise consciousness among the public, irrespective of race, about the cost of goods and services,” he said.

Ismail Sabri, the agriculture and agro-based industries minister, courted controversy after he posted on his Facebook a call for Malays to boycott Chinese businesses, noting that the prices of goods had not gone down despite a drop in petrol and diesel prices.

Ismail Sabri wrote in his posting that Malay consumers had a role in helping the government fight profiteers by using their collective power to lower the prices of goods.

The minister is also embroiled in an allegation he made against DAP MP Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham, whom he said had shares in the popular OldTown White Coffee chain owned by OldTown Bhd.

Ngeh said he would sue the minister for labelling him and his family anti-Islam, after Ismail failed to meet the 48-hour deadline he set to retract and apologise for the remarks.

“If he wants to take action that is his right and I am ready and I’ll see him in court,” Ismail has told reporters.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak defended Ismail Sabri's Facebook comment, saying the Umno minister was not targeting any specific race.

The Prime Minister's Department in a statement said the Cabinet was told that Ismail Sabri's post was a reminder for all businesses to lower the price of their goods.

- TMI