UUM must investigate lecturer for stoking religious tensions, says Anwar

 

Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim is seen here helping the Malay youth who was using a bicycle to make food deliveries. (Steven Sim Facebook pic).

PETALING JAYA: Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) must launch an investigation into controversial lecturer Kamarul Zaman Yusoff for allegedly stoking religious tensions in comments made about a DAP MP.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim’s assistance to a Malay youth who was facing some tough times had been “made an issue” by the academic.

Sim had presented the youth, who is a food delivery rider, with a motorcycle after finding out he was using a borrowed bicycle to get by.

Kamarul then accused Sim of “Christianisation” and warned Malay-Muslims against accepting help from “Christian evangelists”.

Pakatan Harapan chairman Anwar Ibrahim.

During a speech at an Iftar event in Bangi today, the Pakatan Harapan chairman questioned why an act of kindness had become such an issue, and called for an internal investigation by the university into the lecturer’s comments and actions.

“Why was it such a big issue. There were no problems, but it became a big issue because he (Sim) helped a Malay person,” Anwar said.

He said that regardless of race, it is an elected representative’s job to help those who are struggling.

Anwar also criticised the “weak and slow” leadership in the country for allowing issues that inflame racial and religious tensions to go unchecked.

Following his comments about Sim, Kamarul received massive backlash with netizens visiting UUM’s Nuzul Al-Quran post on social media to call for him to be sacked.

Former New Straits Times Press group editor-in-chief A Kadir Jasin was one of those who left a comment, saying that Kamarul did not live up to public expectations of an academic.

“We encourage intellectuals to write and be expressive based on knowledge and not to look for cheap publicity by making statements that are shallow, partisan and insulting to the point of being subjected to legal actions repeatedly.

“I hope this episode of ‘seekor kerbau membawa lumpur habis sekandang terpalit’ (troublemaker or rotten apple) can be removed once and for all,” he wrote. - FMT