Controversial Sinar Harian columnist Ridhuan Tee Abdullah has lamented the “negative” coverage of the Umno general assembly.
 
“Is Umno that despicable?” read the headline of Ridhuan’s column in Malay daily Sinar Harian today.
 
Ridhuan said since day one until the end of Umno’s general assembly, nothing good was reported by the “anti-establishment social media”.
 
“Everything was bad, as if Umno is utterly despicable and it’s the ‘ultra kiasu’ that is holy. And this does not include the insults and verbal abuse made through readers’ comments.”
 
Denying that he is saying everything about Umno is good, Ridhuan (right) admitted that many aspects needed to be improved, especially from the viewpoint of integrity.
 
However, he said the coverage was “very unfair”.
 
“Why wasn’t the same thing done to the ‘ultra kiasu’ party?” he said, adding that news was purposely distorted.
 
The Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) lecturer then questioned who will defend the Malays and Islam if Umno and PAS become liberal.
 
He also believes that both Umno and PAS have become targets by the ‘ultra kiasu’ because the former do not want the country to be led by the latter, who wants to liberalise and pluralise the country.
 
As for PKR which claims it is a party for all, Ridhuan suggested for the party allow a non-Malay to become party president.
 
“If they do this, I am confident that the party will be ‘buried’,” he said.

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