KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 ― As Putrajaya seeks to reconcile a divided nation, editors at Utusan Malaysia claimed today government agencies were “strengthening” extremist cells in the country by letting the opposition DAP and its alleged “Red Bean Army” (RBA) run free.

The Malay broadsheet's editors further hit out also attacked  the authorities for practising double standards for failing to haul up and prosecute DAP leaders or members of the RBA the party purportedly runs for allegedly insulting the Malays, Islam, security forces, civil servants, and the country.

“Awang would like to congratulate our authorities because in some things, they have strengthened the extremists,” it said in its Awang Selamat column, using the collective pen name for its editors.

Among the DAP’s alleged transgressions listed were demands that non-Muslims be allowed to use the “Allah” word, Teresa Kok’s satirical Chinese New Year video clip, the derogatory “kucing kurap” epithet uttered by Jeff Ooi on Penang council workers, Lim Kit Siang’s alleged interference in Friday Muslim sermons and Tony Pua's questions on the National Fatwa Council's ban on Valentine's Day celebrations.

“In Malaysia, if you want to insult and flare up extremism, join DAP. As the most racist party, DAP has a grand licence to do extreme provocation,” said Awang here.

“Strangely, the authorities uses different standards against DAP. If others do as they did then the action would be swift and sometimes could be seen as overly pro-active.”

The editors questioned why the RBA was the left scot-free despite what it said the group’s obvious threat to the country.

RBA refers to the alleged online operation of cybertroopers supposedly funded by the DAP.

Umno-owned Utusan had front-paged a report on the RBA in May last year, alleging that DAP is paying RM3,000 monthly to some 200 RBA members, and has spent around RM1.5 million to fund the operation over the past six years.

The newspaper claimed that part of the RBA’s duties was to attack any politician, businessman or entertainer seen as pro-Barisan Nasional (BN) via social media sites, operating from two centres nationwide – Concorde Hotel and Komtar in Penang, which is currently under Pakatan Rakyat administration.

“Awang thinks the authorities have given a signal that small extremist groups like RBA and DAP are prioritised over the majority,” it said.

“Actually, the public has grown bored hearing the many excuses including from the police and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.”

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang had last year immediately rubbished claims of RBA’s existence, and claimed that it was merely a figment of Utusan Malaysia’s imagination and that of its owners.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim also said in Parliament last year that Putrajaya is mulling an RCI into RBA after receiving a memorandum from 130 Malay NGOs which reportedly alleged that 300 to 3,000 cybertroopers with a budget between RM100 million and RM1 billion over the past six years have been operating to demonise BN through social media networks.