Why is everyone apologizing except Datuk Ahmad Ismail.  Why?  Because he knows that is the mainstream view within UMNO?  Because he feels he doesn’t have to and he believes that the Chinese in this country doesn’t deserve equal rights as the Malays?  I don’t know if I’m right to say this but if that is his belief, shouldn’t we respect that and let him exercise his right?

I’m not supporting his belief and I’m disappointed at what was said but I hold the view that if he doesn’t want to apologize for what he said, so be it.  I don’t want an apology that is made just for the sake of it.  What’s the point of apologizing but he still believes in what he said.

And why must leaders apologized on his behalf.  Are their apologies sincere or is it made for the sake of making it?  Doesn’t the Deputy Prime Minister feel the same about equal rights for the non-Malays?  He was there when Ahmad said those words.  Why didn’t he speak up then?  Why didn’t he reprimand Ahmad then that it was inappropriate to say those things, "Jangan, Ahmad jangan. Tak baik cakap macam tu tau? Mana semangat Barisan Nasional kamu?"

But seriously, didn’t the DPM once say that he was going to soak his keris in Chinese blood?  Didn’t he once just sit there and did nothing when I was asked to leave a meeting room because I was a Chinese.  It was sometime around 1997-98 when I was working for a bumi company that had tendered an IT system to UMNO.  I was the only Chinese employed and I was the only Project Manager.  My company was invited to present our solution and as the Project Manager who oversaw the project, I was in attendance.

That is until someone made a big deal that my company had a Chinese employee among their ranks.  I was asked to leave the room.  As the most senior ranked member in the room, he didn’t say that it was ok for me to be there.  Feeling a little disappointed, I left the room.  I was young and didn’t understand what had happened.  I was young and didn’t really care about politics and equal rights.  I left because I didn’t want the project to be jeopardized because of me.

After that incident, my company asked me to work on the project behind the scenes.  Apparently there are people within UMNO who feels that it is a big issue that my company had hired a Chinese to head such a big project.  But that was then, perhaps the DPM is a different man now.  He did openly apologize for Ahmad’s remarks, stressing that it was an individual’s view and not the party’s view.  Strange isn’t it that the individual has not apologize but the party’s leaders have.

If I were PM, I would stop all these talk about it being an individual’s view and not the view of the party.  What about all those things said at UMNO’s General Assemblies all those years?  About fighting and upholding the special rights of the Malays.  Not letting any other races undermine the rights of the Malays.  Ketuanan Melayu.  Isn’t the message clear that the Malays should always have special rights over the other races?  That’s been on UMNO’s agenda all these years and Ahmad is not the only one who has similar views.  I know because I have attended quite a number of UMNO Assemblies in my time.  UMNO Youth has uttered similar words if not worst.

One things for sure, Ahmad must be a very confused man right now.  Because I’m sure like me, that’s what he thought was going on all this years in UMNO.  He must also be disappointed at how UMNO’s leaders are not supporting his views now.  But really why are UMNO’s leaders taking a different stand right now?  Is UMNO reforming their agenda?  I doubt it.  Or is it a ploy to allow MCA to garner back some support from the Chinese community?

Personally, I don’t really care if Ahmad apologizes or not because before long there will be another Ahmad who will raise the same Anti-Chinese sentiments again as it always has been.