UM..... NO APOLOGY

It was reported in some newspapers, perhaps as headline news that the DPM Najib apologized on behalf of one Ahmad Ismail for some racist slurs against the Chinese community. Apparently he did so in his own capacity as well as UMNO’s. The way the apology was done was that which prompted me to write about it.

This is what I found in Wikipedia “An apology is a justification or defense of an act or idea, from the Greek apologia (απολογία). An apology can also be an expression of contrition and remorse for something done wrong.” It went on to explain that apart from “expression of contrition and remorse”, there is such a thing as a “non-apology apology”. It went further to explain the meaning of non-apology apology and I quote “A non-apology apology is a statement in the form of an apology that is nothing of the sort, a common gambit in politics and public relations. It most commonly entails the speaker saying that he or she is sorry not because of any realization on his or her own part, but rather only because a person who has been aggrieved is requesting the apology, expressing a grievance, or threatening some form of retribution or retaliation.

An example of a non-apology apology would be to say "I'm sorry if you were offended by my remarks" to someone who has been offended. This does not admit that there was anything wrong with the remarks made, and it subtly insinuates that the person taking offense was excessively thin-skinned or irrational in taking offense at the remarks in the first place.”

So was there an apology? If there was, is there any remorse? Personally I do not think so. This is a classic case of a politician taking the electorate for fools. Considering the fact that his apology was reported in all mainstream press except for the Malay press, available in Bernama’s English news, but not Bernama’s Malay news, it looks to me this is the non-apology apology that I learned from Wikipedia. In my opinion, even if it was a genuine apology this Ahmad Ismail should still be investigated for sedition. If he is not an UMNO member I believe he would be in the slammer by now! And if you do not believe me, go say something not so pleasant about them if you are not an UMNO man, and see what happens to you.

This Ahmad Ismail guy must be someone who commands considerable influence in the party, I mean for the Deputy President of a major political party who is also the Deputy Prime Minister of Bolehland to come to his defense, wow! In fact even the Prime Minister himself has come forward to defend his verbal diarrhea! Now, what baffles me is his disappearance, as far as I know there were no Statutory Declarations on this matter so far. Judging from past practices, they only disappear after making Statutory Declarations in Court!