Zahid: ‘Not proper’ to say only Malays fought for country

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has refuted a cleric’s controversial statement that only Malays had resisted the Japanese occupation and the Malayan Communist Party.

Referring to the writings of historian Khoo Kay Kim, Zahid said that history recorded the contributions of multiple races in fighting the Japanese during World War II and the communists during the Emergency.

“To say that only one race defended the country might be tak elok (not proper).

“There is no need to create a polemic, because all parties have made good contributions to the country,” he said when questioned at a press conference, after launching two books by the Malaysian Institute of Integrity today.

Gerakan Pembela Ummah (Ummah defenders movement) chairperson Ismail Mina Ahmad (photo) maintained that he was speaking the facts and not being racist when making the statement last Saturday at the Ummah Uprising Convention.

"This is not racist but I'm talking about history. The ones who fought off Siam were the Malays.

"Later, who fought the Portuguese conquerors if not the Malays, even though non-Malays were already (living in Malaya) then," he said, adding that it was also the Malays who had fought the Japanese, British, and the communists.

The National Patriots Association denounced Ismail’s statement and sought to set the record straight, saying that “non-Malay officers and men, which included Chinese, Indians, Sikhs, Orang Asli, Ibans, Dayaks, and Kadazans; had fought gallantly alongside their Malay brothers-in-arms” not just during the Emergency years but in other battles as well.

Others have deemed the statement seditious, false and an attempt to erase the patriotic contributions of non-Malays to the country.

- Mkini