DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said Umno supreme council member Tajuddin Abdul Rahman should withdraw his remark and apologise.

He said that if the Federal Government was serious about encouraging Malaysians to return home (the task for which TalentCorp was set up), “Tajuddin must withdraw and apologise for his irresponsible and extremist remarks that is completely unbecoming of a Deputy Minister”. (Tajuddin is deputy minister for agriculture.)

Lim said the attitude of Barisan Nasional politicians would only encourage more Malaysians to leave for better employment and income opportunities overseas.

Lim said two million Malaysians had left since 1957 and a recent study had shown that 26 per cent of Malaysia’s super-rich were considering migration in the next decade.

“Economic hardship is not the only reason,” Lim said in a press statement. He said the government should also look into other problems “such as the decline in the rule of law, oppression of basic freedoms, discrimination, environmental degradation and no respect for human dignity in Malaysia.”

Lim said that it was “those who defend corruption, not those living overseas” who were unpatriotic.