Sabah BN joins call for Umno man's apology over Catholic joke; NGO tells cops to explain frozen funds, travel bans

 

Politics

- Sabah BN joined calls for Sepang Umno chief Noorazli Said to apologise over his remarks at the party’s annual general meeting referencing a Catholic priest and a nun. 

Labelling the remarks as “highly inappropriate and excessive,” its chairperson Arthur Joseph Kurup said Noorazli’s “excuse that it was merely a ‘joke’” should not be used to ignore sensitivities.

Arthur, who is also the natural resources and environmental sustainability minister, affirmed that BN remains steadfast in its principles of unity and will not allow other religions to be used as political punchlines.

Civil society

- Rights groups Mandiri and Hayat submitted a memorandum to the police demanding an explanation over the freezing of the groups’ bank accounts and travel bans allegedly imposed on their leaders. 

The memorandum was submitted to a Bukit Aman officer at the federal police’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today, during which Mandiri executive director Amir Hariri Abd Hadi said the daily operations of both NGOs have been affected by the freeze.

While both groups have appointed lawyers to initiate legal processes to unfreeze their accounts, Amir also urged Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail to “not wash their hands” and provide an explanation. - Mkini