What Happened In 2006 ?:Bigot Revisited

Hantu Laut

Sometimes, it's difficult to separate the sheep from the goats.

Whether Ahmad Ismail is a bigot, defender of the faith or Pahlawan Melayu (Malay hero), the man is never short of controversies and strange as it may sound he somehow survives the dangerous waters of politics.People like him and Anwar Ibrahim seemed to have the nine lives.Even the cats would find it difficult to survive such deadly hurdles.

It wouldn't be lack of profundity to say that in every race, group or community there are bound to be the contemptuous black sheep.Ahmad's chauvinistic view is his and not the general perception of the Malay community.

In 2006 Ahmad was again in the limelight over his insolvency status that was widely reported in the media.

1.Umno's leadership will decide the fate of Datuk Ahmad Ismail, who was ordered to relinquish his post as a Penang island municipal councillor because he was bankrupt.
Penang Umno liaison committee secretary Datuk Azhar Ibrahim said it would leave it to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is the committee chairman, to decide.
He said the matter would be discussed when Abdullah returned from his overseas trip.
It was reported yesterday that Ahmad, who is also a director of a firm linked to the Penang Outer Ring Road, had to relinquish his councillor's position as he was a bankrupt.(New Straits Times 24 May 2006)

2.Umno Bukit Bendera division chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail is adamant that he will not relinquish any of his posts.
Ahmad, who was declared a bankrupt, had been ordered to give up his Penang Island Municipal Council position and his Umno post.
He said he had obtained a stay of execution order from the High Court and lashed out at Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon for rushing to announce that he had been stripped of his councillor's post.
"I don't know why a small fry like me has been given such widespread publicity.
"I was declared a bankrupt because of a technicality and I have sorted it out.
"All this could have been avoided if the Chief Minister had checked his facts first," he said
(New Strait Times 26 May 2006 )

3.Bukit Bendera Umno Chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail is not bankrupt and will continue back as a member of the Pulau Pinang Town Council (MPPP).
Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon today said that he had received a letter from the Insolvency Department confirming that Ahmad was not bankrupt.
Yesterday, Ahmad had described the actions of the state government and the MPPP in terminating him from his post of a member of MPPP as being hasty and unreasonable.(Bernama 26 May 2006)

4.)Bukit Bendera Umno Branch chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail will keep his job of councillor in the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP).
Ahmad cleared his name today when the Penang High Court nullified a lower court ruling declaring him a bankrupt.
A jubilant Ahmad said he has received a letter from the state government confirming that he will be retained as MPPP councillor.
He said he was a "victim of circumstances". He acted as a guarantor for a RM1.8-million loan taken by a private company which had defaulted on the repayment.
"I thank Allah that it's all over now. I have cleared my name and now I am looking forward to serving the people of Bukit Bendera (and the MPPP)," he said.(Bernama 27 June 2006)

5.Bukit Bendera Umno division head Datuk Ahmad Ismail claimed that Koh and Chia did not honour their election promises, which included introducing a programme to eradicate poverty and inculcating entrepreneurship among the Malays in the city.
Describing the Malays in Penang as the victimised minority, he asked Koh and Chia to fulfill the pledges they made and asked them to hold discussions with Umno leaders to work out the programme for the Malays.(Bernama 27 Aug 2006)

Time is a great healer. This nasty episode would soon be forgotten and Ahmad would quietly return to his political wheeling-dealing, UMNO unchanged and unrepentant and Anwar still chasing his elusive dream.

This will the closing chapter of Ahmad Ismail's political boo-boo and we should forgive him for the outburst that was probably done in a fit of anger.