Press Statement by Charles Santiago in Klang on Thursday, 3^rd September 2009:

Cow head hypocrisy: Hishammuddin Hussein should step down

If you demonstrate with a chopped cow head, run to an UMNO minister for help. Or hold a meeting with Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein for he would certainly gloss over the seriousness of the issue.

Either that or you have a back door deal scripted to begin with a rally parading a blood-soaked cow head and then the minister himself would come to your protection for he has to pay back the favor.

And ruling UMNO politicians wonder why their novelty is wearing off with Malaysians.

Hishammuddin has acted in a highly irregular and improper manner by stating that the protesters at last Friday's rally cannot be blamed for the controversy. The minister also cannot be so gullible as to believe that the demonstrators do not know where the bloody cow head came from.

A group of 50 Muslims spat and kicked on the severed head of the cow, considered a sacred animal by the Hindus, to protest the relocation of a 150-year- old temple to their neighborhood.

The minister did not bother to explain such an act of savagery against a dead animal body part. The cow head mystery might be apt as a title for a thriller. In this case, however, the protesters and Hishammuddin only ended up looking like idiots.

We are not against the protest as Pakatan Rakyat believes in the freedom of expression and assembly as enshrined in the federal constitution. But when the protest chief says that there would be bloodshed if their demands are not adhered to, it implies violence which could potentially lead to a racial clash in the country.

Furthermore, the meeting between Hishammuddin and the protesters, his overt support to the bunch of religious bigots suggests that the takeover of the Pakatan Rakyat state of Selangor is on track and teases out the dangerous political elements at play.

The UMNO Vice-President also claims that the police did not move in to clamp down on the protest due to the small turnout of protesters. But trucks of anti-riot police were used to nab less than 20 human rights activists and opposition politicians who held a candle light vigil in a soggy field in Ampang Jaya last year and other protests demanding justice for the late Teoh Beng Hock.

Claiming that the protesters felt victimised, Hishammuddin has said that he is not in favor of legal action against any of the protesters. One wonders if he has taken over the job of the attorney-general who now has to decide if he has a case against the protesters.

These statements clearly show that those present at the demonstration were UMNO goons, used to stir racial sentiments as a way of diverting the attention of the nation from real issues.

We have rampant corruption in the country. The economy is on a downward spiral, custodial deaths are on the rise, opposition politicians are targeted by the police and anti-corruption commission, media is suppressed, bloggers are arrested under preventive laws, crime rates are increasing, minority communities continue to be marginalised and huge financial scandals, like the PKFZ RM12 billion fiasco, are swept under the carpet.

Despite this, UMNO is resorting to its ancient piles of garbage and devious tactics of interlinking religion and politics to create fear among the masses as a means of getting Malay support back into the party fold.

Yet again, Hishammuddin is not a man of puzzlingly different identities. His keris waving antics earned him the nickname of kerismuddin. He has also bulldozed his way to incur the wrath of Malaysians by issuing subtle threats to non-Malays aimed at fanning racial sentiments.

But the irony is that Hishammuddin was one of the ministers who took part in the recent Merdeka celebrations and echoed slogans of 1Malaysia, which is Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's new campaign aimed at national integration through equality to all races.

So, while we agree that hypocrisy is an integral part of UMNO politicians, we also have to take note of the fact that Hishammuddin has failed in his responsibility as a Home Minister.

Instead of taking steps to reprimand the protesters and inadvertently nipping the possibility of racial clashes in the country, he has worked in cohorts with the goons while largely ignoring the religious sensitivity of minority Hindus including the laws of the country.

I, therefore, strongly call for Hishammuddin's resignation with immediate effect. I also urge the Attorney-General to charge the protesters in an open court and investigate the Home Minister if he had breached laws in meeting with the protestors in the midst of police investigation.

* Charles Santiago, Selangor DAP Vice Chairman & MP for Klang