KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 ― Barisan Nasional (BN) MP Datuk Bung Moktar Radin defended his tweet saluting Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler today, saying he had only done so out of his admiration for the German football team.
The Kinabatangan MP from Sabah, a self-professed fan of the team nicknamed “Die Mannschaft”, said they fought like Hitler when they thrashed Brazil 7-1 in the World Cup semi-final match early this morning.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with people sometimes. Hitler is part of history and the German team fought like how he did,” Bung told English news portal The Star Online.
The Sabah MP also insisted that his tweet was “just for fun” and there was nothing serious behind it.
“I think people nowadays should transform their mentality. Whatever I tweet, people hit me.
“They are not hitting me because of Hitler, but because I am Bung Moktar,” added the Umno supreme council member.
Bung had tweeted a salute to Hitler this morning, which led many Twitter users to chastise him. An unrepentant Bung then heaped abuse on them.
“Well done… Bravo… Long live Hitler…” the federal lawmaker posted on the microblogging site via the Twitter handle @MyKinabatangan.
Austrian-born Hitler was the leader of Nazi Germany between 1934 and 1945, and was at the centre of World War II.
Hitler was also behind the Holocaust, the mass extermination and execution of millions of European Jews in concentration camps.
Some Muslims worldwide, including in Malaysia, have even publicly expressed their admiration for Hitler for executing the Jews.
Bung’s remark today comes just weeks after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak called on Umno members to emulate the bravery of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants, who defeated an Iraqi force outnumbering it nearly 30-to-one, if the nationalist party is to survive.
However, a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office two days later said Najib had not indicated support for ISIL and maintains his position against all forms of extremism.
Najib also weighed in this morning on Germany’s performance on the football field, saying their defeat of the mighty Brazilian team proved the latter lacked leadership.
He then went on to warn that a similar void in leadership in Malaysia would see the country taken own much like how Brazil was felled in the tournament.
“When I watched Brazil, their defence was all over the place. I put it down to lack of leadership. There was no proper leadership.
“If that could happen to a football team, imagine what would happen to a country that does not have effective leadership... the answer is, we will end up like Brazil,” he joked when launching the second round of the Perdana Fellowship programme.
