Non-Muslim boycott: Anwar says unhealthy, Guan Eng slams PAS, Umno

A boycott against non-Muslim products is an unhealthy move, PKR president Anwar Ibrahim said today.

On his part, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng expressed disappointment with PAS and Umno for not speaking out against the boycott.

Speaking to reporters in Kuala Lumpur, Anwar said promoting halal products was acceptible, but promoting divisiveness was not.

"If you want to promote halal products, it is acceptable. But if you want to promote this sort of bifurcation, and also a contentious issue between the races, it is not healthy," he said.

Anwar said while Muslims are encouraged to come out with good products "which happen (to be made) by Muslims", there are also products that Muslims need that are made by non-Muslims which are permissible to use.

The boycott, which started on social media, is urging the bumiputera to boycott products produced by non-bumiputera.

At the same time, PAS is promoting a campaign to prioritise Muslim-made products, which they said was misunderstood by DAP as a boycott.

This is after DAP's Lim on Sunday urged PAS and Umno to speak out against the boycott.

In a statement today, Lim said DAP was disappointed with the two parties for refusing to speak out against the boycott being pushed for by "racist and religious extremist" NGOs.

He asked if this reluctance was related to remarks by former Selangor deputy ulama chief Ahmad Dusuki Abdul Rani, who supported the boycott against non-Muslims.

Lim (photo) also shot back at PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, who accused Lim of playing up racial sentiments.

"It is difficult to understand when I ask Umno and PAS to reject this boycott to show that they are not against non-Malays and non-Muslims. I was labelled as racist by PAS instead," he said.

Lim, who is also finance minister, said DAP would let the public decide who was right in this boycott issue and expressed confidence that Malaysians do not hate one another, nor do they want there to be a racial divide.

Previously, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad urged those responsible for the boycott to cease their movement to boycott non-bumiputera products, as it would only cause anger.

The boycott is believed to have been spurred by some divisive issues affecting Malaysia, such as the objection of Chinese and Indian education groups against the teaching of khat in vernacular schools. - Mkini