Datuk Ahmad Ismail dramafest

They say that any publicity is good publicity, but surely the good Datuk would beg to differ. After commenting on the "immigrant" status of non-Malays two weeks ago, the Datuk left the furore, generated by what some view as his seditious remarks behind and led a sepak takraw team to a tournament in Bangkok. Upon his return, he continued to be elusive, even for the Prime Minister. His stubborn silence persisted, even after the DPM apologized on his and UMNO's behalf. On Wednesday, he protested that he had done nothing wrong and refused to apologize, and finally today, the UMNO division chief claimed he was merely referring to history, namely the Chinese labour brought in by the British. 

After all that drama, the Datuk must surely be hoping to just stick his head in the sand until the skies clear. However, Malaysians aren't quite ready to let him off the hook. He is facing five reports lodged under the 1948 Sedition Act, and mutterings and grumblings from various sources, including popular almost-banned local online newspaper MalaysiaToday, in which readers remind the Datuk that to the orang asli, he is a "pendatang" or immigrant as well. With numerous reports of corruption, the highest inflation rate in years, and an ongoing murder trial allegedly involving top officials, Malaysia's melting pot rakyat is bubbling merrily, and it won't take much for the pot to boil over. Looks like Anwar picked the perfect time to stage a comeback.