GEORGE TOWN, July 9 — Datuk Bung Moktar Radin’s tweet saluting deceased Nazi leader Adolf Hitler following Germany’s demolition of Brazil in the World Cup would have landed the Kinabatangan MP in a German jail, DAP chief Lim Guan Eng said today.
The Penang chief minister pointed out that Bung Moktar’s adulatory comment of Hitler was a slur to Germany rather than a compliment, and falls foul of the country’s denazification laws.
“Bung Moktar should know that if he was to say this in Germany, he could go to prison for supporting Nazism,” Lim said at a press conference at his office today.
The DAP secretary-general was responding to Bung Moktar’s tweet via his twitter handle @mykinabatangan stating “Well done...Bravo...Long live Hitler” at 5.30am this morning.
Bung Moktar was commenting on the 2014 World Cup match that saw Germany advancing to the finals after defeating Brazil 7-1.
Lim today expressed shock over Bung’s remarks and reprimanded the Umno lawmaker for portraying the country as supportive of Nazi Germany.
“I hope the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak would come out and disassociate from Nazism and scold Bung Moktar for his insensitive remark or else this may drive away foreign investors, especially from Germany,” Lim said.
He also urged the PM to direct Bung Moktar to withdraw and apologise for his remarks.
Aside from the furore over his initial tweet, Bung Moktar also courted further controversy when he responded to criticism of his remark with an allegedly racial slur.
“Maybe you are like P. Ramasamy, just drank todi,” Bung Moktar tweeted in reply to one detractor.
Lim said the MP had insulted Penang Chief Minister II Prof P. Ramasamy by implying that he drank (toddy), which is fermented palm juice.
“This is an insult, I don’t believe Ramasamy drinks toddy,” Lim said.
Ramasamy, who was also present, termed the remark against him as a racist one.
“I have nothing against toddy but I don’t drink toddy and this coming from him, it is not surprising as he has a record of making racist and discriminatory jokes against non-Malays and women,” Ramasamy said.
He said what Bung Moktar said against him and about Hitler were both uncalled for.
The Umno lawmaker earlier defended his tweet by saying that he was commending the German football national team for “fighting like” Hitler.
“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.
Austrian-born Hitler was dictator of Nazi Germany and at the centre of the Second World War and Holocaust that claimed millions of lives.
Modern-day Germany has laws that prohibit the distribution or public use of symbols of unconstitutional groups, in particular, flags, insignia, uniforms, slogans and forms of greeting related to the Third Reich and other forms of fascism.
Penalties for the offences include fines and imprisonment of up to three years.
