PERMATANG PAUH, Dec 1 — An Umno leader under fire for claiming that the Chinese community in Penang bought political power with ill-gotten gains today clarified that he meant to say only some of the group were involved in gambling and prostitution.
Umno Permatang Pauh division chief Datuk Mohd Zaidi Said also insisted his speech at last week’s Umno general assembly was taken out of context, and that he was focusing on poor enforcement action against all vice activities, and not specifically against the Chinese.
"What I said was sometimes, some Chinese who are not Barisan Nasional supporters became rich with money earned from vice activities like illegal gambling and prostitution, not all Chinese," he told a press conference at the Pematang Pauh Umno headquarters here today.
He emphasised the word "sometimes" (kadang-kadang), which he claimed meant only "portions" (segelintir) of the Chinese became rich from illegal gambling and vice activities.
"I did not say all Chinese in Penang and I did not mean it to become a racial issue," he said.
Zaidi was criticised by the Penang state government and MCA leaders after reports of his speech allegeing the political strength of the Chinese come from vice activities such as prostitution and illegal gambling.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has issued a statement condemning him and demanding that he prove his baseless allegations, while the Penang Police Chief Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi also said there were zero illegal gambling machines in the state.
Today, Zaidi stood by his allegations that there are still illegal gambling dens and vice activities in Penang.
He said he was using the party annual assembly as a platform to push for better enforcement to curb illegal activities in Penang so his speech was not only against Penang state government but against all enforcement agencies, both under federal and state.
He denied that he meant to cause any racial disharmony from his speech and insisted it was all taken out of context by certain media.
He also accepted Lim's challenge to name the illegal businesses in Penang as proof of his allegations.
"By the end of this month, I will name five illegal vice businesses in Penang to prove my allegations," he said.
He challenged Lim to resign from his post as chief minister and to hand the post over to another DAP leader once he shows evidence of at least five illegal vice dens in Penang.
He also backed his allegations with statistics from the Immigration Department that showed a total of 195 people were detained from entertainment outlets under Ops Sayang from January until now.
*To watch Part 2 of the press conference, please click here.
