Scams not about race but illegal activities, says MCA

Ti Lian Ker says it is time to stop looking at unscrupulous traders as Chinese and corrupt government officials as Malay.

PETALING JAYA: The nation needs to look past racial lines and address the root cause of the Kota Raya handphone scam, which is the proliferation of illegal activities and unhealthy practices, the MCA said.

The party’s Religious Harmony Bureau chairman Ti Lian Ker said it was common knowledge that fraudulent practices and imitation goods were sold in the market openly.

The authorities however, he said, had not been vigilant in stamping out these activities which had resulted in the open trespass, mockery and infringement of existing laws.

Consumers, the former assemblyman said, had become frustrated as they had become victims of such practices and the relevant enforcement agencies trusted to check such practices had proven to be failures.

“They must be taken to task for a lack of action or failure to check on these traders or put a stop to these illegal activities,” he told FMT, adding it was time to stop looking at “traders as Chinese or corrupt officials as Malays.”

Ti was commenting on the brawl at the Kota Raya complex which was sparked by claims of unscrupulous traders having cheated scores of customers.

The incident took a racial twist after the leader of the Red Shirts movement Mohd Ali Baharom, commonly known as Ali Tinju blamed Chinese traders specifically for running the scam.

Ali had also told the MCA to “shut up” about the Kota Raya not being a case of race because as he saw it, all Chinese were “cheats.”

Ti however questioned if corrupt practices among law enforcement officials had contributed to the open contravention of laws by unscrupulous traders.

If that was the case, he suggested the anti-graft agency move quickly before consumer tempers flared again.

“We need to move forward and walk the talk of good practice and civic mindedness advocated by many but practiced by few.”