Deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak pointed out Friday that a clear line had been drawn between the UMNO leadership and the penumpang remarks of Bukit Bendera divisional chairman Datuk Ahmad Ismail.

Waited for 11 days, Ahmad Ismail was finally back. This is the Ahmad who sent the entire nation, irrespective of political affiliations, into unprecedented agitation, as he led a sports delegation to turbulent Bangkok.

UMNO Bukit Bendera divisional chairman Datuk Ahmad Ismail said he absolutely believed that if Gerakan Rakyat, which had been discarded by the voters of Penang, chose to leave BN, MCA would secure unprecedented victory in the next election.

Two other reporters covering the event in which UMNO Bukit Bendera divisional chairman Datuk Ahmad Ismail made the pendatng remarks during the Permatang Pauh by-election, said they clearly heard what he said, and were shocked and feeling uncomfortable with it.

The Penang & Seberang Perai journalists associations issued their statements on Friday reprimanding UMNO Bukit Bendera divisional chairman Ahmad Ismail.

The racial divide caused over the past two decades serious implications to the nation as a whole.

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.

UMNO Bukit Bendera divisional chief Ahmad Ismail must have something unbecoming in his mind, or he wouldn't have made such seditious remarks on the eve of the Permatang Pauh by-election and before we celebrated our nation's 51st birthday.

I received a call from a mother two weeks ago. She told me that her daughter is a government school teacher and has recently been scheduled for a training course.

Najib apologised. This is the first time for a political party established on racial lines to apologise for some racist remarks.