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Malaysia official suspended for racial remarks
Associated Press - September 10, 2008
Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia's ruling party has suspended an official whose racially charged tirade against the ethnic Chinese minority raised fears of a split in the multiethnic ruling coalition.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi says Ahmad Ismail has been stripped Wednesday of his post as a district chief in the United Malays National Organization party. Abdullah says Ahmad would also be kicked out of the party for three years.
The decision came after Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi chaired a special meeting of the United Malays National Organization governing party to determine a penalty for Ahmad Ismail, a party district chief who called ethnic Chinese "immigrants" who crave political and economic power.
The Malay party is the linchpin of the 14-party National Front ruling coalition, which includes representatives from all Malaysia's races the majority Malays and the minority Chinese, Indians and others.
Abdullah said Tuesday that the National Front's leaders unanimously rejected Ahmad's remarks and wanted "swift and firm action" against him. Observers expect the Malay party to either throw Ahmad out of the party or to strip him of his post as a division chief in northern Penang state.
Ahmad incensed Malaysia's ethnic Chinese last month by describing them as "squatters" and "immigrants" who did not deserve equal rights with Malays.
The uproar over his comments escalated when he gave a news conference Monday warning Chinese Malaysians "not to become like the Jewish in America, where it is not enough that they control the economy, but they also want to dominate politics."
The outcry comes as coalition leaders are struggling to present a united front amid a threat by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to seize power by luring government lawmakers to his side by next week.
Malay Muslims make up about 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people. Most Chinese and Indian Malaysians are descendants of 19th and early 20th century immigrants who came as traders, laborers and miners during British colonial rule.
Chinese make up a quarter of the population, while Indians form less than 10 percent.
Both minorities have increasingly complained about alleged government discrimination in policies such an affirmative action program for Malays launched in 1970 following racial riots fueled by Malay frustration over the Chinese community's wealth.
Anwar has said he would abolish the government preferences for Malays in favor of programs to help the poor if his multiethnic opposition coalition comes to power.
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