Time to stop the hate, says MCA

The party is concerned about extra policing of Chinese businesses in Penang.

KUALA LUMPUR: MCA has raised the alarm against the policing of Chinese-owned businesses in Penang by political activists.

This comes in the wake of reports that Penang Umno Youth has offered to help Permatang Pauh Umno chief Mohd Zaidi Mohd Said expose illegal Chinese-operated businesses in the state.

MCA Religious Harmony Bureau chief Ti Lian Ker released a press statement today expressing concern over the possibility of licensed Chinese business operators being targeted for “extra policing and questioning by non-enforcement officials”.

Zaidi, in answer to a challenge by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, vowed on Monday that he would come up with a list of five Chinese businesses that benefit from immoral earnings.

Li called for the mending of communal relations.

“It is time to stop the hate,” he said, urging activists to check their facts before allowing “religious tempers” to flare and contributing to “racial and religious tension that is growing from bad to worse over the years as a result of reactionary words or statements based on wrongful or out-of-context reports”.

“We must never allow ourselves to become messengers of hate in the social media by publishing or responding to racial and religious slants by individuals or based on publications in the print and electronic media,” he said.