IPOH, July 30 — Perak Umno Youth today lodged a police report against Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran and demanded his resignation for his purportedly offensive references in a speech on Malaysian history.

Youth chief Mohd Arrif Abdul Majid said the Ipoh Barat MP’s statement was defamatory and could cause tension in a multi-racial country.

"A full investigation must be launched against the minister over his statement,” he told reporters after lodging the report at the Sungai Senam police station early this morning.

When pointed out that the DAP vice-chairman had apologised over his statement and had retracted the word "pendatang” (immigrant), Mohd Arrif said as a minister, he should be aware that the public would refer to the minister’s statements.

"He has to be responsible for his statement. We want him to resign as a minister,” he added.

He said the statement made by Kulasegaran could give rise to tense relations among the various races in the country and jeopardise Malaysia’s harmony.

He added the youth wings of other states are expected to lodge similar reports against Kulasegaran today.

In a statement this morning, Kulasegaran said his Tamil speech at a function in Nilai, Negri Sembilan, last week had been misconstrued to suggest he had used the word "pendatang” (immigrant) on people who found it offensive.

"I hereby unreservedly apologise for the hurt I may have caused and withdraw the offensive references in that extemporaneous speech,” he said.

Utusan Malaysia had on Friday reported that Kulasegaran made the statement that Malays were "pendatang” in Malaysia, while Indians were the original residents of this country.

Kulasegaran then said on Saturday that his views on Malaysian history were twisted by those aiming to cause racial tension and accused the Umno-owned daily of fanning such sentiments.

The DAP MP said he had, in the event last week, explained that Indians arrived in the Malay Archipelago 2,500 years ago and brought Hinduism with them, citing as proof the archaeological discoveries in Kedah’s Lembah Bujang area, including the discovery of Sungai Batu.

He said history showed Hinduism to be the earliest religion embraced by locals in the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago and that this was later expanded to Buddhism, before Islam was brought to the region and popularised in the 15th century.