Malay group complains about race bias in newspaper

(Bernama) – A group of Malay scholars, which includes the mufti of Perak and Penang, are to complain to the management of an unnamed newspaper which they say carries articles portraying Muslims as extremists and Malaysia as intolerant.

Islamic Organisations Consultative Council of Malaysia (Mapim) president Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid also said a group who portrayed Muslims in Malaysia as belonging to two groups only bring negative effects.

The group who tried to split the Muslim community by labelling Islam as extreme and moderate has been urged to stop doing so to avoid tension and untoward incidents.

This view was shared by 35 Malay scholars including the Perak Mufti, Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria and the Penang Mufti, Datuk Dr Wan Salim Mohd Noor in a discourse recently, he told a press conference, here today, Bernama reported.

They said several writers who wrote articles in the newspaper were biased toward Muslims when they labelled the Muslims as extremists and Malaysia as an intolerant country.

Mohd Azmi said the writers views can create tension among the people and lead to disunity.

“When they (writers) start to label others, they are accusing a certain race, and this is unhealthy. It is as if the Malays cannot be controlled, are greedy, irrational and intolerant. This is insulting. They are supposed to argue with facts, and not put a blanket label on others.”

Mapim and the 35 scholars also agreed to send a letter to the newspaper concerned to make their stand against the management for publishing the biased articles.