Persatuan Pemuda Negara Malaysia (PPNM) is greatly disappointed with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's statement, which literally labels all non-Malay Malaysians as foreigners.

The PM must remember that unlike his peers, every single person of the present generation knows no other country as his/her birthright other than Malaysia.

It is indeed sad that the PM has chosen such as important event as the Umno anniversary celebrations to corrupt the minds of the present generation of Umno youths, who have grown up showing that they were willing and able to accept non-Malay Malaysians as their brethren.

PPNM regrets that Mahathir has had to stoop that low in order to regain Malay Malaysian support for Umno.

Such rhetoric is not befitting a man of his stature, more so now that he is gaining international recognition as a statesperson par excellence.

PPNM hopes that he does not deem the non-Malay Malaysians in the same light as the Chinese Singaporeans whom he labeled foreigners in their own land.

Such statements from the PM only stand to undermine the efforts undertaken by the nation's youth organisations to eradicate all forms of racial segregation in order to create the envisioned Bangsa Malaysia, which we believe is the ultimate dream of the PM himself.