Tan Chai Ho should be sacked as Deputy Home Affairs Minister when he has shown poor maths skills in unable to make the difference between 79,100 and 1,720 Malays who have given up their citizenship to migrate overseas

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Press Statement

by Lim Guan Eng

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(Petaling Jaya, Friday): DAP is shocked by the statement by Home Affairs Minister Datuk Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad today that only 1,720 Malays have surrendered their citizenship to migrate to other countries between 1996 and April this year. Mohd Radzi said the total number of Malaysians who had left the country since Independence was 106,003, of which 10,411 were Malays, 86,078 Chinese, 8,667 Indians and other races 847. 

Radzi said he needed to clarify the figures given by his deputy Tan Chai Ho who said in Parliament recently that more than 79,000 Malays have surrendered their citizenship to live abroad. According to Deputy Home Affairs Minister Datuk Tan Chai Ho, some 106,000 Malaysians had given up their citizenship between 1996 and April this year. Of the figure, Tan said that 70% or 79,100 were Malays, 25,107 Chinese, 1,347 Indians and 350 of other races.   

However Mohd Radzi corrected Tan by saying that between 1996 and April this year, only 28,527 Malaysians had surrendered their citizenship. The 106,003 figure was between Merdeka in 1957 and April this year, and not as stated by Tan between 1996 and April this year. Giving such wrong answers is shameful and inappropriate for a person holding such an important post. 

If Tan can not count, then he has no right to be Deputy Home Affairs Minister. Such poor performance from a Deputy Minister reflect the poor abilities of BN leaders who are known more for their clownish and boorish behaviour than their intellect. How can Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi expect government civil servants to perform and improve on the delivery system, if government leaders do not show leadership by example? 

Tan Chai Ho should be sacked as Deputy Home Affairs Minister when he has shown poor maths skills in unable to make the difference between 79,100 and 1,720 Malays who have given up their citizenship to migrate overseas.