Stop using religion to scare people, says Salleh

(Bernama) – Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak has called on the people, particularly politicians, to stop using religion for scare-mongering purposes.

He said it was unfortunate that some politicians were using religion as a political bogeyman, which he added was badly dividing the people.

Citing the unique situation of Sabah and Sarawak, Salleh said the two states had never experienced any problem regarding religion “but now some politicians are trying to raise religious sentiments as part of their political strategy’’.

“This is not only very naughty but dangerous as well. Even (DAP veteran leader) Lim Kit Siang is talking about religion in his latest blog post,” Salleh said in a post on his blog today.

The minister said many examples could be seen all over the world as to what happened when religious conflicts occurred.

“Why the need to divide Muslims into moderate Muslims and extremist Muslims and further divide Muslims and non-Muslims? Only politicians bankrupt of ideas would do this.

“It is even ironical when those who are causing the divide grumble about the problem and say Malaysia needs to be saved. This is like the fox offering to save the chickens from getting eaten by other foxes,” he said.

Salleh also asserted that nation-building could not be achieved by dividing the people.

“So, let us hear what solutions those people who complain about a divided Malaysia can offer. Talking about how badly divided Malaysia is will not unite the country. It just divides Malaysians even more.

“We keep hearing about the problem without hearing what the solutions are. And those who complain about it are actually the problem rather than the solution,” he said.