KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 — Tycoon Koon Yew Yin must apologise publicly for disparaging Malaysia’s armed forces in his blog post, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) said today.
Its central committee member Sharan Raj condemned the founder of IJM Corporation and Gamuda Berhad for claiming the country’s security forces are “doing nothing except eating and sleeping” in his blog post last Monday, and suggested the government downsize its numbers and second some of them to work in state-owned plantations instead to rebuild the economy.
“Koon Yew Yin should stop treating armed forces as a source of cheap labour to replace the foreign labour.
“The armed forces have sacrificed their future and will sacrifice their lives when needed to save 30 million Malaysians. Malaysian civilians are not prepared to raise a weapon to defend our land and people but the armed forces are 24/7 combat-ready,” he said in a statement.
Sharan added that the businessman’s remarks were both disrespectful and unacceptable towards the security forces whose job it is to protect the sovereignty and safety of Malaysians from not just enemy troops but also drug smugglers, human traffickers, terrorists, pirates and more.
He said Koon owes a public apology not only to current servicemen but also those who had retired from the armed forces.
Koon who made his money in the construction and infrastructure industries had maligned the armed forces in his blog post by claiming they have only opened fire during training on the range and never in real combat.
He suggested that the military be used to replace plantation workers.
This is not the first time Koon had made derogatory remarks against national institutions.
Previously, he accused the late Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak of being corrupt and selling titles to businessmen.
He was later removed from being appointed into the Perak State Economic Advisory Council by Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu.
