Barisan Nasional leaders have distanced themselves from Umno Wanita member, Norhayati Saiddin's attack on law undergraduate KS Bawani.
G Vinod, FMT
Umno has distanced itself from the racially charged rants of a member of its Wanita wing against law undergraduate KS Bawani.
Umno supreme council member Saifuddin Abdullah said that Norhayati Saiddin’s post, on her Facebook page yesterday, telling Bawani to study in India if she wanted free education was “personal opinion.”
Norhayati had also posted that the Indian community were making too many demands, claiming Indians living in estates in the past never knew what a toilet was before Barisan Nasional came along.
Said Saifuddin: “This lady’s statement is her personal opinion and does not reflect Umno or BN’s stand.
“Her statement is unbecoming, especially in the context of 1Malaysia.”
Other BN leaders have also distanced themselves from Norahayati’s statement.
“It’s uncalled for and a very stupid statement,” said an angry Gerakan secretary-general Teng Chang Yeow.
Calling it an unnecessary comment, Teng said that Norhayati’s statement only reflected the latter’s mentality.
“She should go read the nation’s history before opening her mouth,” said Teng, who added that he would take up the matter with Umno leadership.
MIC secretary-general S Murugesan concurred with Teng’s assessment, saying he did not expect such comments to come from a fellow member of component party.
“We have to check whether Norhayati is an Umno member. If she is, we will put our unhappiness on record,” he said, adding that he will refer the matter to BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and Umno Wanita chief, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.
Murugesan also said that such racially charged statements by any Malaysian should not be tolerated, especially from a BN component party.
“There is no room for such comments in a progressive and united Malaysia,” he said.
Bawani shot to fame after a video of her being berated by Suara Wanita 1Malaysia chief Sharifah Zohra Jabeen went viral on the Internet.
Sharifah was seen patronizing Bawani for asking questions on free education. The former even told the latter to move to other country if she wanted free education.
