Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh has challenged Tourism, Culture and Arts Minister Tiong King Sing to a debate over Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) decision to crack down on signages not properly displaying the Malay language.
“I challenge the minister to an open debate on the signboard issue.
“It’s you who issued a racist statement but now pinning the blame on others, even accusing me of bringing shame to my party,” he said on Facebook today.
The war of words between both politicians started after DBKL launched a large-scale operation targeting signages that failed to give sufficient prominence to the Malay language.
Subsequently, Tiong (above, right) said tourists had asked him whether Malaysia is a racist or religiously extreme country, urging DBKL to be more open.
However, Akmal joined the fray and said racists are “those who had lived in Malaysia for so long but pretended not to understand the laws and sensitivities of the people in the country.”
Retaliating, Tiong questioned the Malacca executive councillor for rural development, agriculture and food security on what he has done for the state.
On that note, Akmal urged the prime minister to replace Tiong with someone else.
He also said it was Tiong who was bringing shame to the country by not understanding Malaysians’ sensitivity and lacking a good command of the Malay language.
“If this is his (Tiong) level, I urge the prime minister to replace him with someone more capable… it’s better to have Jelutong MP (RSN Rayer) as tourism minister,” he added.
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