KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Stanley Thai’s comments were exploited and allegedly used by the opposition to lure Chinese voters during the 13th General Election (GE13).
The Supermax Corp Bhd group managing director said his comments on GE13 during a dinner organised by the Bloomberg Malaysia in March 2013 was manipulated by the opposition.
He, at the time, thought the conversation was private, and commented on why Chinese voters were not supporting the ruling coalition which was then published by the foreign media and went viral.
"When my private conversation was reported and published two weeks before GE13, I realised the article went viral quickly in social media and was exploited by the opposition to gain interest from the Chinese voters.
"As a businessman, I quickly realised that it was wrong to get involved in politics as I realised that I was getting influenced by the opposition’s propaganda.
"I was then invited to be part of the advisory panel member of Institute Rakyat where I had never attended any meeting and requested to have my name removed from their website.
"Thus I expressed my regret and apology to the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for my actions during GE13," he said during a press conference for his public apology to the PM here today.
Thai added he will give his full support to the government’s economic policies since day one while he continues to pursue his work in business.
He said he would like to see political stability where foreign investors were confident to participate in Malaysia with the policies made under Najib’s administration.
He said the glove manufacturing company has faced challenges under the opposition leadership where the company went through infrastructure delays at two of its projects based in Selangor for almost three years due to water shortages leading to USD millions worth of losses.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Indian United Party (MIUP) president Tan Sri S. Nallakaruppan said he will not be contesting in the 14th General Election (GE14).
The former senator said while he was offered a seat by Barisan Nasional leaders, he refused the seat to focus his party’s support to the main coalition during GE14.
"Being in politics involves running around here and there. Plus, I have served my term as a Senator but I will continue my support for Barisan Nasional in this election," he said.
Nallakaruppan added that no other member in MIUP will also be contesting in GE14.