Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, dogged by controversy over his remark last week that non-Malays were more accepting of statutory rape and sexual violations towards minors, refused to apologise in Parliament, and insisted he was not racist.
He however agreed for his remark to be expunged from the Parliament’s Hansard, or official record, to the satisfaction of Kuching MP Chong Chien Jen of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), who proposed the motion for the Deputy Speaker to rule on the Santubong MP’s conduct.
“If you want me to apologise, I do not want to,” Wan Junaidi told the Dewan Rakyat here.
“But if it is as asked by Chong, for the sentence to be expunged from the Hansard, I agree if that is what was asked of me.”
Last week, Wan Junaidi had been answering a question in Parliament by Setiu Barisan Nasional MP Che Mohamed Zulkifly Jusoh on the low incidents of reported cases of sexual violations amon non-Malays, when he said that “non-Malays are maybe more accepting” of sexual violations among children and statutory rape.
He clarified later he had meant that Malay-Muslims in particular are against consensual sex between minors, leading to a higher number of reported statutory rape cases in the community.
The deputy home minister today repeatedly protested against charges of racism, and insisted he meant no ill with the remark.
“Personally, there is no way I can imagine that I am an individual with bad intention. My wife is a Chinese,” he said.
He also related that he has just moved into a neighbourhood made up of different ethnic groups, holding this up as further evidence that he is not racist.
Wan Junaidi said that in 2012, there were 1,550 reported incidents of statutory rape, with Malays making up 48 per cent of those cases, followed by Chinese at 5 per cent and Indians at 3 per cent. 90 per cent of the cases reported involved those aged 16 to 19.
He added that the number of reported cases last year dripped to 1,424.
See also: Deputy Home Minister: Non-Malays are more tolerant of statutory rape
Story: The Malay Mail Online
