Saying it like it is

In Malaysia, Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, blamed Chinese traders for the stagnant prices of goods, despite the drop in national oil fuel price, calling on Malays to boycott Chinese businesses.

The former Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak, said Malays and Indians would also go all out to make a buck, just like the Chinese.

“When it comes to making a profit, the profiteers do not care whom they profit from. They will profit from anyone they can and they do not discriminate based on race. So in that sense it would be unfair to target just the Chinese for criticism.” The minister’s mistake, the Sabah speaker said, was equating profiteering to race. “Profiteering, just like poverty, is also colour blind. Profiteers will profit from their own race as they would from other races.”