Mohamad Hasan not a racist
SEREMBAN: Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan has denied allegations that he is a racist that was made by his detractors seeking political mileage. He said they should look at his work in Negri Sembilan before accusing him of being prejudiced against non-Malays.
The Umno acting president said his track record as mentri besar spoke for itself.
“Come to Negri Sembilan and see how I have during my time as MB helped gazette Hindu and Chinese temples, and churches.
“Go to places like Kampung Saga and Kampung Pasir in Rantau and see how I have helped the residents resolve their decades-old problem to obtain plots to build homes.
“Ask around on the number of Tamil and Chinese schools which I have helped relocate and the new ones that have been built,” he said when met in Rantau.
Mohamad said during his tenure he had also helped Chinese and Tamil schools as well as non-governmental organisations with financial aid.
The Umno stalwart will be defending Rantau, the constituency he held for three terms, in the April 13 by-election against PKR’s Dr S Streram.
He was compelled to defend his record as he claimed to be misjudged by people after parts of clips of his speeches were made viral by his opponents.
Mohamad said he could not possibly be a racist as he grew up in a Chinese New Village in Rantau.
“Mine was the only Malay family in the Chinese New Village and I have so many friends with whom I still keep in touch.
“In fact, I think I learnt how to do business from my Chinese friends there,” said Mohamad who was in the corporate sector before joining active politics.
However, his family moved out after his father passed away.
Mohamad said there were others including Human Resources Minister M Kula Segaran of the DAP made a remark that the Malays were pendatang but later withdrew it.
“These are the real racists,” he added.
Kula who is also Ipoh Barat MP allegedly said this at an event last year claimed that his speech was intentionally taken out of context to stir racial tensions.
“But when I merely said there are Chinese and Tamil schools in Malaysia, my detractors spun my statement to make me look as if I am against these schools.
“What I meant was, we still have these schools when some of our neighbouring countries like Thailand do not,” he said.
Mohamad reminded the people to always see a video in full and not be fooled by those who only chose to viral parts of it.
Separately, Mohamad said Barisan Nasional component parties need not be worried about Umno-PAS cooperation.
“Our critics are now saying that Malaysia will soon become a Taliban state simply because Umno has agreed to work with PAS,” he said in reference to statements by DAP lawmakers.
“PAS has been governing Kelantan for many terms now and is the state being run by a Taliban-type government?” he asked.
Mohamad said the people should not forget that one of the biggest reclining statues of Buddha in the world is in Kelantan, where non-Muslims are free to practise their faith.
He added that it was also imperative for BN to work with PAS to regain control of Putrajaya.
“In the last general election, we lost 29 parliamentary seats because we were involved in three-cornered fights with Pakatan and PAS. “I am confident that if we work with PAS, we will be able to regain Putrajaya in the next general election,” he said.
