Ismail Sabri: Blunder or deliberate?

Many say Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri had “shot off his mouth” and blundered big time over his controversial Facebook posting. As a result, he is hot under the collar, to put it mildly.

Apparently such a conclusion came about by “taking note” of Ismail’s remarks and statements following the brickbats hurled at the minister, especially from the Chinese community.

Remarks like “what I meant by Chinese is Chinese traders” explaining his call on Malays to “boycott Chinese".

Then he went on to say: “I did not mean all Chinese traders only the stubborn ones”.

Such words were seen as Ismail backtracking in a desperate attempt wriggle himself out of a sticky situation.

The “gem” must surely be his “there are many Ngehs in Perak" statement, in response to the demand by DAP's Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham for him to apologise or face a lawsuit.

The minister had earlier accused Ngeh as being anti-Islam and owning the OldTown White Coffee chain, which he implied was “suspect” as far as “halalness “ was concerned.

Refusing to apologise, Ismail said: "Ngeh, is he the only one in Perak? I did not mention Ngeh Koo Ham. I said 'said’ to be...".

A “gem” because Ngeh is “synonym” with the Perak DAP.

That’s one standpoint. Obviously there’s another line of thinking, so to speak.

To some people, Ismail “could have” expected the brickbats and angry reaction when he said what he said. Simply because to them, it’s a given that the remarks made by Ismail would trigger such a response from the non-Malays, in particular the Chinese. And Ismail surely could not have been blind to that.

Then, they pointed out to the immediate or instant show of support by Umno members including more than 70 divisional chiefs prompting them to ponder if all that was in fact “staged"?

That’s viewpoint number two. Rightly or wrongly.

But the question is this: what did the controversy bring to Ismail?

To state the obvious, Ismail’s “fan base” among the non-Malays is as good as gone. That is if he had such a fan base in the first place. Can he leave with that?

Well, in elections every vote counts no matter where one chooses to contest. Including in Malay majority constituencies.

Being a seasoned politician, Ismail knows all too well he would need the non-Malay votes no matter how confident he might be contesting his “safe haven”.

But the controversy has put Ismail in high “esteem” as far as Umno goes. He is hailed by Umno as a “wira” of the Malays – not afraid to speak out for his "bangsa".

The fact the police had questioned him somehow is seen by his Umno comrades as something which “entrenches Ismail’s heroic status”.

Never mind the substantial number of non-Umno Malays who see it differently and do not have any kind words for Ismail for his ranting.

His boss, Datuk Seri Najib Razak via a statement issued by the PMO, “justified" his action, defending him at the same time (although the MCA president has his own opinion).

One big score for Ismail. To an Umno politician, nothing else matters most. Especially for those eyeing the party election said to be just a year away. – February 5, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.