‘More radical groups due to govt policy’
The country did not face this problem when it achieved independence because Malaysians then held the spirit of co-existence, says Hindraf
Athi Shankar, Free Malaysia Today
The government’s divide-and-rule policy has paved the way for the mushrooming of many racist and religious extremist groups in the country, said Hindraf chairman P Waythamoorthy.
Waythamoorthy said the government should observe and apply Article 153 of the Federal Constitution, which emphasised the rights of the minority.
He said the government had instead continued to marginalise the minorities such as the Indians and orang asli.
He added that unity and progress could not be achieved if government policies satisfied just one particular community at the expense of all others.
Waythamoorthy said certain state politicians and NGO leaders were instilling fear as if “something great would be lost” through their racist and religious rants daily.
He said the country did not face this problem when it achieved independence because Malaysians then held the spirit of co-existence.
“We should be matured enough to deal with this. It is time for the government to move away from its divide-and-rule policy,” Waythamoothy told FMT today.
He said the applications by the Attorney-General Gani Patail and Inspector-General Khalid Abu Bakar to the Court of Appeal to suspend the High Court orders to locate two Muslim converts was an extension of the government’s divide-and-rule policy.
He added that Gani and Khalid were mocking the judicial system by intervening in inter-faith custody disputes.
