KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 8 — The Education Ministry must take immediate action to prevent any confusion over an attempt to depict Chinese New Year as a religious celebration, DAP said today.
The ruling party’s legal bureau chief Ramkarpal Singh said the ministry must make it clear that no wrong had been committed by a Puchong public school that had decorated its grounds for the upcoming Chinese New Year as alleged by a Malay party yesterday in painting the episode as an attempt to propagate non-Islamic religions.
“The Education Ministry must launch an inquiry into this episode and set the record straight — that it is no offence to put up any decorations in schools during festive seasons such as Hari Raya, Chinese New Year or Deepavali,” Ramkarpal said in a statement.
He was responding to Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) vice-president and lawyer Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz who threatened action against SMK Pusat Bandar Puchong (1) in Pusat Bandar Puchong for its Chinese New Year decorations.
Pictures of the school festooned with lanterns and other red-coloured cut-outs deemed auspicious by ethnic Chinese have since spread on social media and were held up by Khairul as so-called proof of the religious propagation attempt.
Ramkarpal called the Putra politician’s allegation “baseless” and urged the school principal not to cave in under pressure to remove the decorations.
“There is no doubt that Putra’s threat is baseless and no one should feel pressured to succumb to the same.
“It is time for us to build bridges between races in this country at a time when racial tensions seem to be at an all-time high,” Ramkarpal added.
Chinese New Year, which starts on January 25 this year, is celebrated as a cultural festival by ethnic Chinese globally, regardless of their religious inclinations.
Many countries observe it as a public holiday. In Malaysia, it is for two days though the Chinese community traditionally celebrate it for 15 days.
Several government officials have weighed in and decried the Putra politician’s attempt to put a religious lens on the cultural festival.
Among those who have spoken up so far are Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo, Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh, Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman and Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah who called on Malaysians to celebrate their diversity.
