PETALING JAYA, Dec 25 — The Anglican Bishop of West Malaysia Datuk Ng Moon Hing urged Putrajaya today to address racial and religious polarisation in the country, before it worsens and becomes irreversible.
He pointed out that this year alone, there have already been two racially-tinged incidents, alluding to the brawls at Low Yat and Kota Raya shopping malls, adding that such occurrences could lead to Malaysia’s downfall if left to fester.
“Religious and racial polarisation is very rampant and has reached a very critical stage nowadays. It urgently needs to be curbed and arrested before an ugly explosion takes place.
“The strength of our nation is and has been our multi-racial and multi-religious and multi-lingual society. If this is shaken the nation will crumble,” said Ng, during its Christmas Day high tea reception here.
Ng also said that the public should learn to "agree to disagree" when faced with differing opinions while the authorities, he added, should promptly act when freedom of speech crosses the line and becomes hate speech.
Last Sunday, a brawl reportedly broke out at the Kota Raya mall when some 20 men armed with sticks and helmets stormed a handphone shop to seek refund over an alleged cheating case, and got into an argument that turned violent and left two people injured.
Former soldier Mohd Ali Baharom, better known as Ali Tinju, was arrested on Monday for a sedition investigation on his remarks outside the Kota Raya complex on Friday prior to the brawl, but was released on police bail yesterday after a two-day remand.
Ali was already charged in July with sedition over remarks made outside the Low Yat Plaza mall that later experienced another racially-charged brawl, but the Attorney-General’s Chambers dropped the charge in September due to insufficient evidence.
In his speech, Ng also called on Putrajaya to be less reliant on "handouts" of any form, including that of Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) and should instead focus on effective policies.
"We appeal to the government not to rely on BR1M or handouts only to help the people, but to create policies to be more equitable in the distribution of wealth in the economy," he said.
* Editor's note: In an earlier version of this story, Datuk Ng Moon Hing was mistakenly referred as the chairman of the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM).
