The UMNO Federal Territory Youth Chief racist rant on Twitter is indicative of “trying to be a hero” , said Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming today. The former, Razlan Rafii, had tweeted “Isteri Pemimpin #DAP Tan Poh See berkata #Malaysia adlh jenis Negara tak guna? @imokman ask her balik tongsan kalau tak setia pada Negara!”. He referenced Tan Poh See’s [Tanjung MP Ng Wei Aik’s  wife] post on Facebook that said “Malaysia is a scary nation, what kind of useless country is this?” after the MH17 crash. She had later removed the post and apologized on social media.

“It is deeply insulting and offensive for anyone to ask a fellow Malaysian to leave his or her country of birth. It is even more offensive when this is done by an UMNO Youth leader representing the Federal Territory,” saying that the tweet smacks of racism and is very similar in nature to the ‘pendatang’ remarks made by UMNO Bukit Bendera division chief, Ahmad Ismail in 2008. He was subsequently stripped of his UMNO membership for 3 years for the comment, but reinstated by the party in December 2009

“It seems that Razlan Rafii has not learned from the mistakes of Ahmad Ismail,” he said.

Ong Kian Ming said that Rafii was emulating Ahmad Ismail in his “balik tongsan” tweet, trying to appear heroic to the UMNO Youth. He reminded that it was the same UMNO Leader who had led a group of UMNO men to the DAP headquarters, threatening to burn down the building.

“If UMNO is serious about national unity and eradicating racism and racist behaviour in Malaysia, it should start within its own ranks by disciplining UMNO KLFT Youth Chief for asking a fellow Malaysian to ‘balik tongsan’,” he added.

The failure to punish the UMNO leader for his racist slur would be making a mockery of Najib’s 1 Malaysia slogan, and would encourage other youth to echo racially offensive remarks, said the Serdang MP.