Malaysian politician slammed for Hitler comment

Malaysian politician slammed for Hitler comment

A Malaysian politician sparked an online furore yesterday after he made a pro-Hitler remark on Twitter following Germany's emphatic 7-1 World Cup semi-final victory over Brazil.

Mr Bung Mokhtar Radin, who is the Barisan Nasional Member of Parliament for the district of Kinabatangan in Sabah, tweeted: "Well done ... Bravo ... Long Live Hitler."

The tweet went viral and netizens condemned him for its insensitivity.

However, the fan of Die Mannschaft, Germany's national football team, defended the post, saying that people have attacked him because of who he is, The Star reported.

Mr Bung maintained: "I don't know what's wrong with people sometimes. Hitler's part of history and the German team fought like how he did."

'MENTALITY'

He added: "I think people nowadays should change their mentality.

"Whatever I tweet, people hit me. They are not hitting me because of Hitler, but because I am Bung Mokhtar."

In response to Mr Bung's comment, Democratic Action Party chief Lim Guan Eng, who is also the chief minister for Penang, said the tweet could have landed the politician in a German jail.

Malay Mail quoted Mr Lim as saying: "Bung Mokhtar should know that if he was to say this in Germany, he could go to prison for supporting Nazism."

In the same vein, German ambassador to Malaysia Holger Michael has strongly criticised Mr Bung's remark.

Mr Michael told Time magazine: "We strongly reject the distasteful and unacceptable allusion to the fascist regime of Adolf Hitler."


This article was first published on July 10, 2014.
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