PMO: Nothing wrong with Puchong school’s CNY decor

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 8 — The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) today said that the public school in Puchong which had put up decorations for the upcoming Chinese New Year had in no way caused religious propagation.

In a statement, the PMO said the Cabinet had during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today discussed the issue and found that the school did not caused religious propaganda by using Chinese New Year decorations.

“The Cabinet views seriously the actions by certain parties that have stirred racial and religious issues by lodging a police report against SMK Pusat Bandar Puchong (1) in Pusat Bandar Puchong for putting up Chinese New Year decoration.

“It is not religious in nature and is not a way of spreading religion,” the statement read.

The PMO added that the Cabinet disagrees with the racist and extremist attitudes of certain parties as it undermines racial unity in the country.

Earlier today, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail led a delegation of ministers, deputy ministers, and lawmakers to the school.

Those present included Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, Communications Minister and Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo, Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, de facto religious minister Datuk Mujahid Yusof Rawa, and Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Datuk Xavier Jeyakumar.

The ministers also took turns signing several Chinese lanterns that were sponsored by the Kinrara state assemblyman Ng Sze Han, who was also in attendance.

Earlier this week, Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) vice-president Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz threatened legal action against the school for supposed excessive Chinese New Year decorations, which he said had upset several Muslim parents.

He claimed the decoration to be “unconstitutional” and that Muslim parents had complained about the decoration, which they see as an attempt to propagate a non-Islam religion to students.

Khairul later said the school principal, Rohani Mohd Noor, promised in an email reply to take down all the Chinese New Year decorations