Two reporters covering the event in which Bukit Bendera Umno division chief Ahmad Ismail made the alleged racist remarks during the Permatang Pauh by-election, claimed that they clearly heard what he said.
They also said they were shocked and felt very uncomfortable after hearing Ahmad's utterances.
According to MySinchew online, Guang Ming Daily reporter Li Weihua related that after covering the first event of Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak on the night in question, he went on to cover the DPM's second event, in which he clearly heard the ‘penumpang’ remarks uttered by Ahmad Ismail.
Li said he was shocked by what was being said.
He said Najib had not yet arrived when he reached Kampung Belah Dua that evening. However, Ahmad Ismail was already giving his speech. As he was not very familiar with the speaker at that time, he did not pay too much attention to what he was saying.
Li went on, "But later he (Ahmad) raised his voice louder and louder, and suddenly I heard this: 'Orang Cina cuma tumpang di sini sahaja.' (The Chinese are only squatting here)"
He said after hearing this, he was very shocked and understood how sensitive the remarks could be.
Heard Very Clearly
Nanyang Siang Pau reporter Chen Minghao also said that when he was at Kampung Belah Dua to cover the event, he heard very clearly Ahmad Ismail's ‘penumpang’ remarks, and felt very uncomfortable with it.
He said after covering Najib's first event, he rushed to Kampung Belah Dua to cover his second event. However, when he reached there, Najib had not arrived yet and Ahmad Ismail was already addressing the crowd on the stage.
Chen said although he did not know who Ahmad Ismail was at that time, he heard very clearly that he said, 'Orang Cina cuma tumpang di sini sahaja,' and he felt very uncomfortable with what was being said.
Ahmad announced in Penang today that he would be suing Sin Chew Daily and a reporter for quoting him out of context in his speech that night.
Sin Chew has stood by its report on Ahmad Ismail's remarks.
“Will Umno leadership as well as the other BN component parties, particularly MCA, Gerakan, MIC, Supp take a strong stand to denounce Ahmad's offensive and insensitive (remarks)?,” Lim asked in a statement today.
No reason was given but the party's secretary-general Richard Yong (left), a right-hand man of party president and former chief minister Yong Teck Lee, has been appointed the new zone chief in the East Coast Residency of Sandakan.
According to political observers, the entire episode is part of an overall strategy and the party is perceived as more united now despite public display of internal differences.
“Dompok is wrong to equate Yong Teck Lee's meeting with Parti Keadilan Rakyat advisor Anwar Ibrahim with Umno meeting with PAS,” PBS vice-president Herbert Timbon was quoted as saying in the Daily Express newspaper.
"Jika kerajaan memberi tanah secukupnya, sekolah agama juga boleh menjadi institusi pendidikan yang lebih sempurna," kata Presiden Teras, Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid.
“Any change in government is bound to elicit some trepidation from the ground since the market will be dealing with uncertainties of how policies will be affected, I tend to take the view that most in the business sector would be pragmatic in aligning themselves with the powers that eventually be,” Tricia Yeoh, director of Centre of Public Policy Studies.
Anwar, who re-joined Parliament only last week after spending most of the past 10 years in political deep-freeze, is confident he can meet the deadline.
Like the man-in-the-street, investors here have never known any government other than that led by the Barisan, which is controlled by Abdullah's Umno party. While Abdullah is known for his simplicity and softness, his predecessor Dr Mahathir Mohamad ruled with a fist of iron for 22 years. Despite their contrasting styles, both leaders relied heavily on pro-business policies and big government to pump-prime economic growth.
To counter Abdullah’s budget for 2009 presented last week, the 61-year old Anwar has promised to unveil a brand new and even better budget once he comes into power. Among improvements that Anwar has assured are a faster pace of economic liberalisation, stronger role for the private sector, extensive investment in education and lower fuel prices.
At a time when the Iron Curtain had descended upon the world, the British Colonial Office had to ensure that, in Malaya at least, they could engineer a hand-over of power to a party that would ensure the access of the "free world" to the critical Strait of Malacca. Apparently, their geo-political strategy drove them towards the moderate leadership of Tunku Abdul Rahman and the Malay nationalist Umno under hi charge.
For all parties, the union with Singapore seemed logical geo-politically. Given the situation at the time when Southeast Asia was the premier cockpit of the world, and communism was on the march everywhere.
Without the support of the people of Sarawak and Sabah, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would have been denigrated to the position of Malaysian opposition leader in Parliament! For the first time, the MPs from these economically backward, long neglected, and consistently marginalised North Borneon states can play the role of king-makers in national politics, either in less than two weeks' time, or in the next general election. 
Is this adamant refusal to recognise September 16 as a day of national importance and the insistence to celebrate August 31 as the Independence Day not a libidinal subconscious mentality of Umno ideology to regard Sarawak and Sabah as mere appendages of Malaya? Were Sarawak and Sabah added to the Malaysian project in 1963 as an accidental after-thought, a historical aside? What people on earth would like to be consistently treated as a historical after-thought?
