PENANG: UMNO Bukit Bendera divisional chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail said he had never said that Chinese Malaysians were pendatang (immigrants). He reminded UMNO leadership not to hurt the feelings of Malays just because they wanted to take care of the feelings of another race on this particular issue, thus losing more support from the Malays.

He said his talk at Permatang Pauh on 23 August only mentioned that the Chinese were immigrants prior to the independence, because they were brought into this land by the British.

"As I have not said that Chinese are pendatang, I demand that the reporter who wrote so apologise to me, my family and all the Malays and Muslims in this country. I suspect that the reporter has his or her own agenda." (Translated by DOMINIC LOH/Sin Chew Daily)