SANDAKAN, Dec 2 — Muslims in Malaysia are reminded to be cautious and not to be easily swayed by racial and religious sentiments being played up by supporters of the former government.

Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu said the group had intentionally used this method to appeal to Muslim sentiments thus diverting people’s attention from their leaders’ corruption issues.

"We (Pakatan Harapan) have just taken over the administration for six-months and there is no better way for them to rise immediately except through racial and religious issues.

"It is very easy to stoke sentiments through talks so we have to be knowledgeable and careful,” he said in his speech at the Sabah Parti Amanah Negera (Amanah) convention here today.

He said Malaysians should be aware of spillover effects of stoking such sentiments as experienced by some Muslim countries including Syria, Libya, Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan.

Mohamad added that he raised the subject to make people realise that the recent incident over the temple in Selangor had nothing to do with racial issue and the matter could be resolved amicably but there were people who took advantage of the situation to incite racial sentiments.

Meanwhile, he expressed hope that Pakatan Harapan leaders would be transparent and honest in their dealings to win over the hearts of people at the grassroot level.

Mohamad also reminded Pakatan Harapan member parties not to be contented with the GE14 victory but to work together and continue to remain united. — Berna