KJ: Saifuddin should step down as minister over ICERD blunder

PETALING JAYA: Former Youth and Sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin has called on Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah to resign over the government's failure to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).  

In a series of tweets Friday (Nov 23), Khairy said that Saifuddin, as the minister, should take responsibility over the matter, as it was not a small blunder.  

"As expected (Saifuddin and Wisma Putra) caused this major blunder by not thinking this through and convincing (Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad) to make the commitment at UNGA (United Nations General Assembly).  

"Not Wisma Putra’s finest hour," he tweeted, adding that it is 'now an embarrassing, but necessary, backtrack'."  

The Rembau MP also tagged Saifuddin in another tweet which read, "Minister for Foreign Affairs should take responsibility and resign. This is not a small blunder.  

"The commitment was made in the PM’s UNGA address (to ratify ICERD). Not some kampung ceramah."  

He also tweeted that Saifuddin has to be responsible for making a commitment on a matter, which will not get the support of the majority of the people.  

"He (Saifuddin) didn't think this through," Khairy added.  

Khairy also tweeted, "No party is responsible for anything. This Malay backlash is real. Not manufactured. No matter how hard you tell yourself it is."  

Saifuddin, who is Indera Mahkota MP, did not respond to Khairy's tweets.  

However, Saifuddin, tweeted to other Twitter users, that the government did not rush in its decision not to ratify the international convention.  

"No one is rushing it. I've said this many times. No rush. (sic)," he said. 

In an earlier tweet, Saifuddin said that those who are against ICERD "did not read ICERD's text, interpret the constitution properly, move on from politics of race or did not want to debate about it".

In a related matter, Khairy said that the Dec 8 anti-ICERD rally should not continue with the government's decision not to ratify the convention.  

He said this is the time to reduce the "political temperature" in the country.  

Aminuddin Yahaya, secretariat chief of the Malay-Muslim NGO Ummah, had said the Dec 8 rally would continue as planned, but this time as a celebration.  

“It will go ahead, to celebrate the victory of the rakyat's move to pressure the government into rejecting ICERD,” he said on Friday.- Star