Apology?

Wah... plenty of calls (and emails) this morning to let me know that the UMNO Youth Deputy Chief had issued a statement asking for my apology on the statement I made with regards to the civil service pay rise, which was quoted in Malaysiakini.

The Star carried it here:

Umno Youth wants DAP and its economic adviser Tony Pua to apologise to Malaysians for his remarks that the civil service has been “a dumping ground for the politically sensitive constituency of unemployed Malay graduates.”

Its deputy Khairy Jamaluddin said Pua’s comments, implying that civil servants were the employees of last choice and unable to seek gainful employment elsewhere, were totally unacceptable and without basis.

It is also carried in Utusan Malaysia, where I was pleasantly surprised that they carried portions of my statement which made the report better balanced. ;)

Pergerakan Pemuda UMNO mendesak Penasihat Ekonomi kepada Setiausaha Agung DAP, Tony Pua dan parti itu meminta maaf berikutan kenyataannya bahawa penjawat awam hanya terdiri daripada orang Melayu yang mengalami masalah pengangguran.

Naib Ketua Pergerakan Pemuda UMNO, Khairy Jamaluddin berkata, kenyataan yang disiarkan di Malaysiakini semalam bersifat menghina dan angkuh terhadap lebih sejuta kakitangan awam di negara ini.

[...]

Pua berkata, sebagai contoh, pada tahun lalu, Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) telah didesak mempercepatkan proses pengambilan graduan untuk mengisi kira-kira 30,000 kekosongan dalam perkhidmatan awam.

‘‘Gesaan itu dibuat oleh Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak untuk mengatasi masalah graduan menganggur, yang sebahagian besarnya bumiputera,’’ katanya dalam satu kenyataan sebagai mengulas kenaikan gaji kakitangan kerajaan mulai Julai ini.

Menurut Khairy, kenyataan Pua itu sememangnya tidak berasas dan perlu ditolak sama sekali kerana ramai kakitangan awam sanggup melepaskan tawaran kerja dengan gaji dan manfaat yang lumayan di sektor swasta disebabkan mahu berkhidmat kepada negara.

So what do you think? I'll provide my response in a bit ;)