Ex-Sabah chief minister wrong to offer RM500 to slap Ahmad Zahid, says Teresa

Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, who had a slap threat made against her by a group of Islamic NGOs, has criticised a former Sabah chief minister's offer of RM500 to anyone willing to slap the home minister over the abduction of two people from an island resort in Sabah.

This is despite the fact that the minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, had dismissed the threat against Kok, saying it was not a life-threatening matter.

"Nevertheless, I disagree with the RM500 offer to slap Ahmad Zahid made by the former Sabah chief minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee," the DAP vice-chairman said in a statement today.

Yong had offered RM500 to anyone who slaps Ahmad Zahid when he next visits Sabah for yet another serious breach in Sabah’s east coast security, following Wednesday's abduction of a Chinese female tourist and a Filipino resort worker by armed men.

Yong said his offer was to show the anger of Sabah folk over the "repeated failures of the federal government to fulfil its constitutional duty to protect Sabah and its people".

"I also offer RM1,000 to any Barisan Nasional MP who moves a motion in Parliament to deduct the salaries of the home minister, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and the Rural Development Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal (who is Semporana MP)," he had said.

This is the second time Yong has offered money to slap Ahmad Zahid. The first took place last year after Ahmad Zahid, who was then the defence minister, claimed that three opposition leaders were behind the Sulu intrusion in Lahad Datu.

In February, a group, calling themselves the "Council of Islamic NGOs" held a protest in Kuala Lumpur and offered a RM2,000 reward to anybody who dared to slap Kok. They also slaughtered two chickens and smeared the blood on a poster bearing Kok's photo.

Ahmad Zahid dismissed the reward, saying, "there is nothing to investigate as it is not a threat".

"Why do we need to investigate that? Slapping is not a threat. If they say murder, then it is a threat," he had said.

Kok said today that she would wait to see how the home minister would respond to Yong's statement.

"While many Netizens have said that Ahmad Zahid has reaped what he sowed for his dismissal of the slap threat against me, I wish to make it clear that Yong Teck Lee’s cash-for-slap offer against Ahmad Zahid is totally wrong and unacceptable."

"A slap threat is criminal intimidation and to support it is tantamount to replacing rule of law with law of the jungle. I am committed to the rule of law... My stand is, therefore, my commitment to the rule of law and is not a support for Ahmad Zahid," she added.

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