Saturday, June 28, 2008

Hamidah says 'sorry' for racial slur - Malaysiakini

Ahti Veeranggan | Jun 28, 08 6:55pm

Sungai Rapat state assemblyperson Hamidah Osman, who caused a furore in the Perak legislative assembly on Friday with her racial slur, has publicly apologised for hurting the Indian community.

At a packed press conference in the Ipoh Country Club this morning, the Barisan Nasional elected representative issued the public apology before newsmen, saying that it was not her intention to hurt the Indian community with a racial slur.

"I have already retracted my statement in the House and now, I am offering my humble and sincere apology here to all Indians for uttering the racist remarks in the heat of the moment.

"I regret for saying that and promise not to repeat it anywhere anymore," said a visibly moved Hamidah, who plans to embark on a 'constituency road-show' to explain and apologise over the incident to electorates in Gopeng, which encompasses Sungai Rapat.

Her apology came in the wake of several police reports lodged by Perak Indian-based public interests groups such as cultural-based organisation Ipoh Tamilar Tirunaal (ITT) organising committee, which has 30 Indian NGO affiliates.

1 comment:

karim said...

What's the use of saying sorry when you have already uttered that racist statement? Any amount of apologies or roadshows will not be sufficient for the damage you have caused. If you are truly sincere and regretful, then resign as an assemblyman. Maybe then, the people will believe you.

Once uttered, even a thousand horses would not be able to retract those words.

Don't think because the Malays are the dominant race in the country, only they reserve the right to be sensitive when others mentioned anything about them. On the contrary, they can say anything about other races and get away with it.

Hamidah, you are such a racist! A shame to the electorate who has voted for you. A disgrace to your country who professes to have attained multi-racial harmony.

The statement you made was not even relevant to the topic discussed during the assembly. You were plain stupid to utter it for the sake of uttering thinking people will marvel at your intelligence.