Ranau: Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun on Tuesday again reminded groups or individuals not to alter the facts of history, in an extended response to a widespread attack on his "Malay stock" comment recently. "Do not ever change history just because we don't like it. If that happens, we are only inviting a racial divide and eventually will bring the country to the brink of destruction.
"The Malay stock had existed for more than 200 years. It is a historical fact of the Malay Archipelago (nusantara) that we must accept," he said, while expressing his disappointment over those who were not able to tell the difference between the words, ethnic and stock.
Netizens did not mince their words over Masidi's Malay stock comments on Sunday after he brought this up during the Umno Youth and Puteri movement annual general meeting in Ranau.
Personal attacks against the Minister continued in the social media after he defended his statements on Monday.
He stressed that the Dusun, the Murut and the Bajau are ethnic communities who are a part of the larger group of the Malay stock based on the Malay Archipelago history, which spreads through the Malay isles, Indonesia, Borneo, the Philippines and more.
Masidi had initially made the comment in reference to Umno as not being a party created exclusively for the Malays in the peninsula, but also to Sabahans who are also included as Malays in reference to the "Malay stock" concept.
Umno does not force anyone to become its members nor does it mean they become Muslims if they become a member, he said.
"I also deny the notion of certain quarters that Umno is an imported party from the peninsulaÉno such term exists in any political party in Malaysia because there is no import in a nation owned by Malaysians," he said.
