Have you oft regretted your speech, Never your silence?

What a wake up call it was on Saturday after going to bed the previous night with my final thoughts being that ah tomorrow's headlines would probably read " Ahmad retracts statement...I was misquoted says Ahmad........Ahmad will apologize says Dr M, KJ, MP of Kinabatang and Jerai, UMNO Penang.....zzzzzzz..... wow! hang on a sec, what!!!!

Ahmad: I don’t owe anyone an apology NST 6/9/08

Bukit Bendera Umno division chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail maintained that he had done nothing wrong despite being accused of making seditious remarks about the Chinese community.

"I said them in relation to the country's history during pre-Merdeka days. I explained how the Chinese, Indians and Malays were treated by the British.

"Yes, I did mention that the Chinese were immigrants. No one can deny that fact.

"I have said before this that I am not a racist. I do not owe anyone an apology.

Yawn.... U got it wrong again my dear Ahmad ! Oh dear! we live in such a state of paradox these days....to apologize is human, to demand an apology is divine.

Of course Ahmad, if one goes back in time to the pre-merdeka days, most people were immigrants or at least are thought to be so. Before the formation of Malaysia as a modern nation state a few decades ago, people in the region moved freely without any consideration of, or restriction by national boundaries, which were created only as a result of the formation of the modern nation state. When the Chinese and Indians came from China and India, Malay civilization had developed in the Malay archipelago and the Malays had their indigenous system of government here until the British colonized the land both directly and indirectly .The earliest inhabitants whose descendants still exist today in Peninsula Malaysia are the aborigines called Orang Asli. Recognizing this historical fact does not mean disqualifying the Malays as indigenous people. Similarly, recognizing the Malays as indigenous does not mean disqualifying the Chinese and Indian in Malaysia as rightful citizens of the country.

Therefore, it is "in bad taste" for Ahmad to argue that Chinese citizens of Malaysia are 'immigrants in relation to the Malays or for that matter others to argue that Malays are also"immigrants" in relation to the Orang Asli. One should not politicize the issue. It is misleading and meaningless to quarrel over who are more indigenous or who among the citizen are more "immigrant". Such arguments in this multi-ethnic country can only lead to distrust and hostility between ethnic groups. In a democratic nation-state every citizen is equal before the law and no category of people can claim to have more rights.Malaysia should move towards a vision of prosperity and justice for all. History bears irrefutable witness to the self evident truth that no harmony is possible between races in a multi ethnic society where either seeks aggrandisement at the expense of the other. The mutual need for each other, for mutual completion and fulfillment is frustrated if one seeks to devour the other. Invariably, the end result is material and spiritual impoverishment, stagnation and death for both individual and society. The equation is infallible.

In the interest of national unity, the country should move away from the likes of Ahmad Ismail , a crude and visceral politician, whose hoity-toity rantings is both confused and confusing and brings to mind John Alexander Smith, Professor of Moral Philosophy at Oxford who said in 1914"...if you would work hard and intelligently you should be able to detect when a man is talking rot..."

Ahmad, your five minutes to fame is up!