KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 — A DAP lawmaker today urged the police to investigate the home minister for criminal defamation and provocation for accusing the opposition party’s leaders and supporters of being disrespectful towards ethnic Malays.
Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng, who lodged the report against Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi at the Sentul police station last night, argued that the senior Cabinet member made baseless allegations against DAP in a story run by The Star yesterday, and should be investigated under Section 499 of the Penal Code, which covers defamation.
Lim also urged the police to probe the matter under Section 504 of the same legislation, claiming that Zahid had intentionally insulted DAP to provoke a break in the public peace.
The home minister came under fire from his non-Malay allies in the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition over remarks reported by The Sun daily, in which he was quoted as saying that Malays were paying the price of being kind to the minority races who were growing more arrogant.
The Umno vice-president later rebutted the news report alleging he called non-Malays increasingly arrogant for daring to insult the Bumiputera majority, saying the remarks were taken out of context.
He said that his comments at the launch of his party’s Segambut divisional meeting Monday, were instead in reference to DAP leaders and supporters, The Star Online reported.
