Rafidah: Putrajaya cannot cave in to small group harping on race, religion

National Economic Action Council member Rafidah Aziz has told Putrajaya not to bow to minority groups that harped on race and religion issues.

She said those who continuously utilised religion and race were only a small group of Malaysians while the majority of Malaysians had right-thinking minds.

"Over the last decade, they showed a xenophobic tendency and colloquial instincts," she said when speaking at an economic forum at the Perdana Leadership Foundation today.

She, however, noted that this minority group would influence others via social media and other means with their xenophobic and colloquial ideas.

"This is something we really have to be cautious about as this kind of element has the potential to continuously stoke interracial and faith fissures," said the former international trade and industry minister.

"When faith becomes a pond for politics, that's when trouble starts. That's when the Taliban starts and that's when the people go into the fighting mode, killing mode in the name of religion," she said.

She said these people were, in fact, fighting someone else's political battle adding the people were waiting to see how the government will tweak policies just to please narrow-minded groups, added Rafidah.

"That is not the way to govern the country. You don't govern to please groups based on religion, race or creed. (But you need) to please everybody (in the country)," she said.

This is something the government must start doing although it was not easy, she said.

[More to follow]  - Mkini