Sunday, November 02, 2008

Zaid, keluar dari rumpun Melayu, kata Shahidan kassim

KANGAR, Nov 2 (Bernama) -- Perlis Umno liaison chief Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim has slammed former Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Zaid Ibrahim over his remarks on "ketuanan Melayu" (Malay supremacy) which Shahidan regards as extreme.

"Zaid should repent. Otherwise, he should get out of the 'rumpun Melayu' (Malay grouping)," said the former Perlis Menteri Besar, here today.

Shahidan, who is also Arau Umno division chief, said Zaid "is a Malay and should be behaving like a Malay".

"He should have the Malay spirit and not question 'ketuanan Melayu' openly," Shahidan said when met at the closing of the Perlis Open Cycling Championship 2008 and the Women's Cycling Championship for the President's Cup, here.

He said if Zaid continued to question the Malay supremacy concept, then he should no longer be a Malay because as a Malay he should be defending the Malays and not running them down.

Shahidan, who is also an Umno Supreme Council member, wants Zahid to apologise for his remarks.

Zaid had recently said that the "ketuanan Melayu" concept was a failure and detriment to the Malay race, and that it had caused wastage to resources, energy and time needed to address the real issues in the country.

-- BERNAMA