The government and relevant authorities must carry out their duties in a stern yet respectful manner, taking into account racial, religious, and cultural sentiments, said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Speaking at a programme with Indian students at Universiti Malaya today, he affirmed that acts which affect racial relations cannot be taken lightly as they risk destroying the nation’s foundations.
“If you make any decision purely based on racial sentiments, the Malays must be reminded that even though they are the majority, they have to appreciate the fact that every citizen has their own rights.
“The Chinese and Indians can also voice their demands, but they must also remember that this country cannot allow extreme racial reactions,” Berita Harian quoted him saying at the event, which was also attended by Human Resources Minister R Ramanan.
Anwar also reportedly acknowledged how his previous remarks on issues said to involve racial matters had been “misconstrued”, stressing that he never intended to stoke disunity or hostility towards any community.
“(There is) hate towards the prime minister because he is portrayed as friendly towards the Chinese, or not stern enough about (Hindu) temples. Not stern with the Chinese about pig rearing,” Malay Mail quoted him as saying.
“Even if we need to be stern, we must be respectful of other faiths (and) not to the point that we hurt each other’s feelings. Yes, this is a difficult issue.
“As always, I stand to be corrected, and some of my remarks had been misconstrued, but it was never the intention,” Anwar added.
Vigilante demolition
While it is unclear which remarks he was referring to, he had warned the public in February against taking matters into their own hands regarding unauthorised temples.
The message came two days after he said he instructed local councils to “clean up” temples built without authorisation.
One such unauthorised temple in Rawang was demolished by vigilantes, with a lawyer claiming that the men had acted in accordance with Anwar’s “clean up” directive.
Lawyers Ambiga Sreenevasan and N Surendran had also called for Anwar to withdraw his remarks, asserting that the directive was unprecedented and had serious consequences.
Earlier today, Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo assured that issues involving temples or places of worship will now be managed according to a process determined by the cabinet last week.
The DAP national chairperson said the cabinet decided that such issues required cooperation at three levels of government: the federal, state, and local governments, according to their respective jurisdictions. - Mkini
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