KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — The public furore over local daily The Star’s controversial front page shows that Malaysians are still a sensitive bunch, Khairy Jamaluddin said today.
The youth and sports minister said he believed that the front page was an honest editorial mistake but claimed that many Muslims were genuinely offended by it, which calls for more sensitivity when it comes to publishing materials related to race and religion.
“There are people who said this was a manufactured outrage. That’s not true. A lot of Muslims were genuinely offended by it,” Khairy told Malay Mail Online in an exclusive interview today.
“I want to give benefit of doubt to Star that this was just a careless error. But, it is a lesson for all of us that we should be very careful about how we present something that touches on religions and also we should give people a chance to explain before we jump on any bandwagon.”
The Umno Youth chief however called for Malaysians to be patient and let the local daily explain itself after a show cause letter was served by the Home Ministry.
“I think that we should wait for the explanation and see what it is but this goes to show sensitive people still are in Malaysia.
“If it was deliberately done, it was stupid. I tend to believe it was more careless than anything else, but it goes to show that we have to very, very careful and emphatic to society,” Khairy added.
The newspaper had on Tuesday suspended editor-in-chief Datuk Leanne Goh Lee Yen and executive editor Dorairaj Nadason over the matter.
It is now under investigation, among others for alleged sedition, over a front page that featured a photograph of Muslims praying in Putrajaya and an unrelated cover story of a former Universiti Malaya lecturer who was in line to become the next leader of the Islamic State in the region.
Yesterday, six staff members of The Star were interviewed by the police.
