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PSM to govt: Buck up and resolve rising racial, religious tension

PSM to govt: Buck up and resolve rising racial, religious tension

PUCHONG: Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) today criticised the Pakatan Harapan government for dragging its feet in resolving the rising racial and religious tension in the country.

In a statement, PSM deputy chairperson S Arutchelvan said when there is a crisis, the Pakatan presidential council should sit and come out with a solution to address the matter.

“Why do they allow the issue to prolong? Is this by design or sheer inefficiency?” he asked.

Recently, tensions arose over the introduction of khat in the Bahasa Malaysia school syllabus, with Chinese and Tamil education groups calling it a ‘creeping Islamisation process’.

Instead of salvaging the situation, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad accused Chinese education group Dong Zong of being a racist organisation.

The khat issue is also proving to become DAP’s headache, with the Chinese community accusing the party of selling out the community’s interest.

Religious tensions also soared when controversial preacher Dr Zakir Naik disparaged the Hindu community in Malaysia, claiming they were more loyal to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi than Mahathir.

On calls for him to leave Malaysia, Zakir said that the Chinese Malaysians should leave the country too, as they are also ‘guests’ in the country like him.

Hurling brickbats on Pakatan, Arutchelvan said that he was disappointed that the government was turning a deaf ear to all the racial and religious issues flaring up in the country despite being in control of state apparatus.

“While various groups are organising petitions and protests, there is hardly any effort by the Pakatan leadership to resolve the matter.

“We need a multi ethnic discussion to resolve the ongoing crisis. Pakatan forgot that they control the TV stations,” said Arutchelvan.

By G Vinod