KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — Activist Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan called on Malaysians today to mount a “peaceful resistance” against racial and religious extremists, amid a slew of controversial statements by right-wing groups.

The former Malaysian Bar president also said Malaysians should debate with Malay-Muslim groups like Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) and Perkasa in open forums, instead of urging the authorities to book them under the Sedition Act.

“Right-thinking Malaysians should start a peaceful resistance and push back such extremism,” Ambiga told The Malay Mail Online when contacted.

“There should be an open public forum with people like Isma and Perkasa where they will have to justify everything they say. For example, Isma is rewriting history when they talk about the Chinese. Do they understand where Peranakan culture came from? It doesn’t look like it,” she added.

The lawyer stressed that the Sedition Act should be repealed, but said Malaysians could give Isma the “Don Sterling treatment” instead by castigating the Islamic group widely on social media.

Ambiga was referring to American business magnate Donald Sterling, who was banned for life from the US’ National Basketball Association (NBA) last month and fined US$2.5 million (RM8.12 million), after a recording of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team owner’s racist comments emerged.

“Isma issuing statements in public is... part of freedom of speech as far as I’m concerned. We should have the freedom to also respond accordingly,” said Ambiga.

Isma president Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman last Tuesday called the country’s second biggest race “invaders”, saying the influx of Chinese immigrants into Tanah Melayu was a “mistake” that needed to be corrected.

He also claimed that the Chinese had been brought in by British colonialists to oppress the Malays.

Public outrage forced the police yesterday to announce a sedition probe against the right-wing Islamic group.

Ambiga also criticised Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), a public university, for hosting a seminar on Christianity where Muslim speakers told a thousand-odd students that the Gospels in the Christian bible’s New Testament were “fake”, and that Jesus Christ was simply a “human slave to Allah”.

Christians believe that Jesus Christ was divine, while Muslims insist that he was merely a human prophet.

“You need to present the alternative view and allow the children to decide and discuss and ask questions. My issue here is there was no report of students asking questions of those people,” said Ambiga.

The activist also said she was happy to see usually reticent Malaysians coming forward to speak out against extremism.