The rise of ethno-populism dangerous for country: Jomo

An economist has warned the rising of ethno-populism, with the cooperation of Umno and PAS, would be dangerous for the country.

"You have a very dangerous belief that the ethno-populism is the way forward for the new opposition alliance," said Khazanah Research Institute senior advisor Jomo Kwame Sundaram (above) in a post-GE14 forum held at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) today.

Umno secretary-general Annuar Musa once said 'Islam permits or encourages 'assabiah' (social solidarity), while another leader intepretes 'assabiah' as tribal consciousness, according to him.

"So, you have two different views seemingly merged in the new alliance," said Jomo, who was also a member of Council of Eminent Persons (CEP).

"This is the challenge before us, for the leaders, especially for Muslim leaders, to point the way forward and encourage all Muslims and leaders to speak the truth," he said.

Similarly, he said, some other countries also adopted such nationalist populism, some of which targeted Muslims.

"More and more politicians (abroad) gave way to the temptation to ride the ethno-populist way," he said.

(More to follow) - Mkini