Mat Hasan: ‘Penumpang’ not a slur, refers to non-performing ministers

RANTAU POLLS | Acting Umno president Mohamad Hasan asserts that his usage of the word "penumpang" (squatters) on the Semenyih by-election campaign trail was not intended to be a racial slur.

The BN candidate for the coming Rantau polls said he was referring to non-performing ministers, and that his words were intentionally misinterpreted by Pakatan Harapan leaders. 

"The ‘penumpang’ I meant were the non-performers in Mahathir's cabinet, but it was deliberately misunderstood by Harapan, who claimed I used the word against non-Malay ministers," he told a 500-strong ceramah crowd in Kampung Bemban yesterday.

Also present at the event were Arau MP Shahidan Kassim and Kedah Umno chairperson Jamil Khir Baharom.

Last month, Mohamad was reported as saying that the "penumpang" in the country now lived "in the big house."

"The people who should be landlords have become squatters in the small house in the backyard. 

"Those who were previously penumpang, clinging to the legs of our nation's fighters, asking to live alongside us in our homeland, now live in the big house,” he had said.

At the time, Mohamad's remark was widely interpreted as a reference to the number of non-Malay lawmakers in the Dewan Rakyat, which he now denies.

'Sorry to see Dr M'

In his speech, Mohamad also expressed his sadness that the 93-year-old Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had to pick up the slack for his purportedly underperforming cabinet.

"I'm sorry to see Mahathir as prime minister. He's 93 years old, but still has to work hard, because his cabinet does not deliver," he said.

Mohamad also went on to allege that his Harapan rival in the coming by-election, Dr S Streram, deliberately did not pick up his Election Commission pass in last year's general election. 

This, he said, was to give the outside world a bad perception of the electoral system under BN rule. 

The Umno leader added that Harapan leaders had come up with various allegations against the electoral system and the EC to sully the image of the BN government.

"Wearing EC passes is an election regulation, that's why everyone had them. I used my passes, Mahathir himself used them during nomination.

"He (Streram) was even given a briefing and told that all the candidates who wish to enter the nomination room must have a security pass, along with their proposer and seconder.

"He never came and asked for the pass from the EC's office or the district office. It was done deliberately to show the world how bad the election system is in Malaysia," he claimed.

Streram's failure to produce the EC pass caused him to be barred from the nomination centre, and resulted in a walkover for Mohamad.

The Harapan candidate later filed an election petition, which saw Mohamad's win being voided and a by-election called.

Besides Streram, Mohamad will also come up against two independents – Mohd Nor Yassin and R Malar – in the April 13 by-election. -Mkini