Utusan Malaysia’s sensational front page yesterday was misleading, said the supposed victim of the alleged deceit.
“What I actually said was for discounts to continue on houses valued at RM500,000 and below,” Tony Pua, the implied speaker of the scandalous words Mansuh diskaun bumiputera (Revoke bumiputera discounts), told FMT today.
The words make up yesteday’s front-page headline for Utusan, an Umno-affiliated newspaper that has often been accused of creating racial tension.
Pua, who is DAP’s chief economist, was among several speakers at Monday’s public forum on Selangor’s 2011 budget.
During the discussion, he urged the Selangor government to withdraw the seven percent bumiputera discount on luxury homes and commercial property valued at RM1 million or more, saying it would help improve competitiveness and restore investor confidence in the state.
“I am not against affirmative action, but not for homes that cost RM1 million or RM2 million,” he said.
He lamented today that the Utusan headline “gave the impression that I urged the Selangor government to remove the discounts on all Bumiputra properties.”
In a sidebar to the main story, Utusan quotes former menteri besar Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo as calling DAP a chauvinistic party.
In response to this, Pua said: “He’s coming from a party that’s only interested in protecting the privileges enjoyed by cronies, which is why he disagrees with me.”
In a tweet early yesterday, Pua expressed his astonishment over the Utusan headline.
“Wow, this is my second time hitting the Utusan Malaysia frontpage and that’s never a good thing; sigh,” Pua wrote.
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