PETALING JAYA: The MIC has accepted the Prime Minister's apology over the use of the derogatory word "k****g" which sparked outrage from the Indian community.
Its deputy president Datuk Seri M. Saravanan said the issue should serve as a lesson for all leaders not to trample on sensitive issues involving other races in the country.
"While our Prime Minister might not have any malice in uttering the word, it had certainly hurt the feelings of the community which had supported the government coming to power at the last general election.
"The video of the Prime Minister referring to the Tamil language as 'Bahasa K****g' has been widely circulated and has caused a furore among the Indian community," said the Tapah MP on Friday (Dec 22) in a statement.
Saravanan also said that he had personally messaged Anwar Ibrahim over the matter.
Anwar had said the word during the Temu Anwar Dialog Mahasiswa programme at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) in Tanjung Malim, Perak on Thursday (Dec 21).
Anwar later clarified that he only intended it as a citation from the book titled Hikayat Hang Tuah, and not meant to insult any party.
Bernama reported that the Prime Minister said the book recounts that Hang Tuah had a command of various languages, including Malay, Arabic, Siamese, and the K****g language, derived from the term “kalinga”.
“Now, the term ‘k****g’ is disliked by many, so I don’t use it. I only quoted from the book.
“If there is any misunderstanding, I apologise, it’s not my intention (to insult). I’m the last person to cast aspersions, insulting any ethnicity or religion,” he said at a dialogue session with editors-in-chief and senior editors of the electronic, print and online media on Friday.
