Ngeh: I didn’t insult Indians

FMT Staff | December 3, 2011

The Perak DAP chief says that his tweet referred to Vell Paari and Zambry, and not the Indian community as a whole.

PETALING JAYA: Perak DAP chairman Ngeh Koo Kam today dismissed claims that he had labelled Indians as stupid in a twitter message.

He said that his twitter message was “misread and misquoted” by certain parties.

He added that he referred to MIC leader S Vell Paari and Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir as trying to mislead the Indians and that the Indians are not as stupid as they (Vell Paari and Zambry) think.

His tweet message in full read: “Vel Pari & Zbry play race politics. Alrdy explained Hitam Zambry means illegal Zambry. Try to mislead Indians to cover his illegality. Indians nt as stupid as they think.”

“The word ‘they’ in my tweet refers to Vell Paari and Zambry, not Indians,” he told FMT.

He said that an online portal had first wrongly made the assumption that he was referring to the Indians as being stupid.

The issue was also picked up by FMT columnist Joe Fernandez in his article on Friday.

“I did not label the Indians as such. My tweet had been misread and misquoted. I want to clarify the situation so that this can be cleared up,” said the Beruas MP.

Ngeh’s tweet was originally aimed at both Vell Paari and Zambry who had lashed out at the DAP, especially the Perak party secretary Nga Kor Ming, for making derogatory references to the Perak menteri besar’s dark complexion.

Nga had subsequently apologised for making such a remark but denied that it referred to skin colour or Indian race.

He said his “Menteri Besar Hitam Metalic” remark meant that Zambry’s position as the menteri besar was illegal and the BN state government was unlawful.