Amid renewed discussions on censorship of artworks deemed to have offended certain parties, PKR president Anwar Ibrahim today made a call for society as a whole to be more open to accepting differences in opinions.
"We need to be more tolerant," Anwar said in brief when asked for comments on a recent series of incidents linked to censorship.
On Monday, prominent visual artist Ahmad Fuad Osman had requested that the National Art Gallery (NAG) close an exhibition of his life work after four pieces were removed.
The NAG defended the decision of its board which sparked calls from over 200 visual artists for their collective resignation unless there was a formal justification given for the arbitrary removal of Ahmad Fuad's works.
On the same day, vocalist for local rock group Drama Band, Aepul Roza, apologised for the band’s Anugerah Juara Lagu (AJL) performance which seemingly mocked former premier Najib Abdul Razak, his wife Rosmah Mansor and other personalities.
Their act garnered much criticism on social media and prompted Media Prima Television Networks to probe whether the band had violated broadcast content code.
Anwar earlier touched on the subject of tolerance in the context of fostering peaceful co-existence in Malaysia and across the region.
"We see now that discourse about race is getting increasingly heated. I raise this because of politicians in power, they tend to flaunt their wealth, loot... but then use the issue of race to attract the attention of the downtrodden poor," he told reporters in Shah Alam.
"To me, the overall concept must be peace and justice.
"Only through that way can we assure the majority of the poor, largely comprising Malay-Bumiputeras and others, that they will be taken care of," he said in speaking out against a siege mentality among the majority group.
Anwar earlier delivered a keynote address at the Regional Conference on Peaceful Co-existence hosted by think tank Institut Darul Ehsan, in collaboration with Unisel, Indonesia's Habibie Centre and Japan's Sasakawa Peace Foundation. - Mkini
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