Don’t play up racial sentiments, Hisham tells publishers
By Hemananthani Sivanandam, The Sun
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein reminded newspapers not to play up racial sentiments.
“I want to remind newspapers, just like the voters in Sarawak, do not be excited that you can sell your paper but doing it at the expense of causing chaos in the country.
“If the country is in chaos, then you won’t even be able to sell one copy of your paper,” said Hishammuddin in a press conference in Parliament today.
He was referring to Utusan Malaysia’s columnist Awang Selamat, who said that Barisan Nasional (BN) should no longer be too “generous” as the average Chinese voters in Sarawak have rejected BN and supported the opposition.
The columnist, whose pseudonym is used by Utusan editors, said the BN state government could no longer be too generous to give place to the representatives from the community.
He added that the Sarawak cabinet must be reflective of the decisions and the attitude of the voters.
Hishammuddin said that regardless of the publication, the sentiments are similar.
“Utusan also in other editions speak in other ways, the same with The Star, they talk about the same sentiments. I’ve been monitoring the Chinese papers and it’s worse,” he added.
Commenting on the results of the recently-concluded 10th Sarawak state election, Hishammuddin said Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Sarawak (PBB) should find a way to help Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP).
SUPP, the second biggest party in the Sarawak BN coalition suffered severe loss when it won only six out of the 19 seats contested.
Its president Tan Sri George Chan was the biggest casualty in the polls.
Hishammuddin, who is also an Umno vice-president, said BN is being tested but it should not let such matters break up the coalition.
“The different component parties in the coalition sort out difficult issues together, unlike the opposition who are seen to be together but have different aspirations,” said Hishammuddin.