Ismail praised for his ‘amazing leaps of logic’

Azmi Sharom pokes fun at minister Ismail Sabri for his racist rant advising Malays to boycott Chinese traders who refuse to lower prices.

PETALING JAYA: Universiti Malaya law lecturer Azmi Sharom said that while he was not surprised by Ismail Sabri’s racist rant on Facebook, he noted his dodgy logic and wondered if the Minister of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry was privy to information that other Malaysians were not.

In an opinion piece published in The Star entitled “Damage done in 130 words”, Azmi said, “This sort of language has become the norm in this country, not only amongst the lunatic fringe but even amongst those in power.”

He was referring to Ismail’s call to Malays to boycott Chinese traders in a bid to compel them to lower the prices of their goods.

However, going in for the kill, Azmi made note of Ismail’s “amazing leaps of logic,” saying it was “interesting” how the minister was somehow able to link high prices with suspect “halal” certifications and the shares an opposition leader, who was anti-Islam, had in a particular Chinese-owned restaurant chain.

“Here is a man capable of tremendous dexterity. If there was a competition for mental and verbal gymnastics, he would win a gold medal – he is Olympian in his skills,” quipped Azmi.

After receiving an immediate backlash from the public, the minister did offer a clarification, saying he was merely referring to “stubborn” Chinese businesses and not all Chinese businesses, to which Azmi cheekily said, “What intellectual agility!

“There is nothing vaguely distasteful about his statements then. He was merely trying to start a movement of ‘consumer power.’”

With undertones of sarcasm, Azmi also opined that perhaps the Agriculture Ministry was privy to certain information that the public did not have at its disposal, specifically on “stubborn” traders, and wondered out loud if they were all Chinese and how many of them were out there.

“Are there no ‘stubborn’ Kadazan or Malay traders? How about Javanese or Sikh traders?”

Azmi did however give Ismail the benefit of the doubt saying, maybe he “does have the data that only the Chinese oppress consumers” and “only consumers who are being oppressed are the Malays”.

Convinced that this must be the case, Azmi said that if not, surely the minister would have made a general statement instead, telling all consumers to stay away from all stubborn traders who refused to lower their prices.

He reasoned, “It says the same thing, but without mention of race or ethnicity. There is no use of inflammatory language with one group oppressing another,” said Azmi.