MEDIA STATEMENT BY MIC DEPUTY PRESIDENT AND TAPAH MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT DATUK SERI M. SARAVANAN

1. The MIC and I personally welcome the apology issued by our Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim over a racial slur recently.

2. This should serve as a lesson to all leaders not to trample on the sensitivities of other races in the country.

3. I have been receiving queries from the media, party members and Malaysian Indians at large over the quote by our Prime Minister using the word ‘keling’ at a forum.

4. The video of the Prime Minister referring the Tamil language to ‘ Bahasa Keling’ has been widely circulated and has caused a furore among the Malaysian Indian community.

5. Although the Prime Minister claimed that he was speaking from a historical context, it must be noted that the word is considered derogatory and therefore it is best to avoid using it.

6. In the past, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had also been criticised for using the term but he justified it by saying it was common for northerners to use such a term to identify Indians or Tamils in the old days.

7. MIC is not oblivious to the heated debate on the issue among netizens and has taken proactive measures to inform our displeasure to the Prime Minister over the use of the word which demeans Malaysian Indians.

8. MIC, while in the current Unity Government, will not stand aside in safeguarding the pride and welfare of the Malaysian Indian community.

9. While our Prime Minister might not have had any malice in uttering the word, it had certainly hurt the feelings of the community which had supported the current government come to power at the last general elections.

10. I have personally texted the Prime Minister over the issue expressing Malaysian Indians displeasure over the last incident and hope that such an incident will not recur especially from our Prime Minister.

Thank You