'Um, no': Johor politician roasted for claiming Singapore could be more developed with Umno in charge

Which is the more developed nation, Malaysia or Singapore? The question has got several Malaysian politicians in a tizzy. 

Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party vice president Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah had no qualms with answering "Singapore", as reported by the party's newspaper HarakahDaily.

He added that Singapore is more developed than Malaysia as United Malays National Organisation (Umno) is not present in the city-state.

However, Johor Barisan Nasional (BN) chief Hasni Mohammad rebutted Amar's statement, claiming Singapore could be more developed if ruled by Umno, which is a member of the BN coalition.

According to Malaysian media, Hasni was quoted as saying that Umno would be as strong as Singapore's ruling party, the People's Action Party.

Hasni's statement raised plenty of (virtual) eyebrows as it made its way to online forums such as Reddit and HardwareZone.

A Reddit thread posted on Thursday (March 10) has received over 160 upvotes at the time of writing.

Generally, it seems like Reddit users did not agree with Hasni's views. Some had their creative juices flowing as they threw shade at him.

A netizen quirkily split the name of Hasni's political party to convey their thoughts on his comments while another got "stunned like vegetable" to the point where they forgot to laugh.

Another Reddit user asked: "No offence to Malaysians but is Malaysia more developed with Umno?"

This elicited a fiery reply from a netizen claiming to be Malaysian.

"The wealth of a single Umno leader alone is enough to feed every single impoverished person in the entire SEA (Southeast Asia) region. So yes we are developed," the netizen alleged.

"We're developing debilitating terminal illnesses just from Umno alone."

Comments on HardwareZone were of a similar nature, with one user asking Hasni to "wake up his idea".

ALSO READ: In Johor election, is Malaysia's Umno seeking stability or a get-out-of-jail card for Najib?

amierul@asiaone.com

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