DAP S’wak lodges police report against Umno Youth chief over alleged racially divisive remarks on FB

KUCHING (Sept 12): Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak members today lodged a police report against Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh for allegedly posting racially divisive remarks on Facebook.

The report was lodged by special assistant to DAP Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen’s special assistant Soo Tien Ren, Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii’s special assistant George Lam, and DAP Socialist Youth (Dapsy) Stampin member George Tiong at the Sekama Police Station.

“He (Akmal) said that and I quote, ‘kalau tak mahu kami di sini biadab, jangan celupar, jangan mencabar’ (if you don’t want us here to be rude, don’t say to much, don’t challenge).

“I think this statement is causing disharmony and it’s trying to stir the racial tensions among Malaysians including us in Sarawak. It’s a challenge to all of us who are fighting for a liberal Malaysia.

“So with that in mind, I think that it is our duty as DAP members to raise this issue to the police, to the relevant authority so that they can raise this, they can take actions to investigate these statements, whether it has actually caused the racial disharmony because in my opinion, yes it has,” Soo said.

Meanwhile, Lam said that Akmal’s statement likely stemmed from remarks made by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na’im Mokhtar, and DAP vice-chairman and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok regarding halal certification.

Lam defended Kok’ stance on the issue, stating that her role was to ensure checks and balances in government policies, particularly those that affect the food and beverage (F&B) industry.

“In fact, the issue of Halal certifications mentioned by Kok not just impacting the F&B outlets that serve no pork, but it affects all Malaysians as well, including the Muslims because just think that most of the Muslims out there having their hawker centers and their own small business out there, they don’t actually get the halal certification.

“So the address by Kok, I think is just to make sure that the government should think twice when it comes to implementing the policy and I think that in this situation, where the racial sentiment has been stirred up by Dr Akmal in West Malaysia, does affect Sarawakians here, and this issue may cause a little impact to Sarawakians,” he said.

Lam also called for Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) to use its influence at the federal level, noting that the coalition holds five ministerial posts and six deputy ministerial positions.

“So we hope that someone from the GPS can come up with something to balance the statement addressed by the Umno leaders, given that they (GPS) have five full minister posts in the cabinet, as well as six deputy ministers in the federal level. So we hope that this can be done.

“Recently, we heard that the political secretary to the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has mentioned that this will be discussed in the coming cabinet meeting, and we hope that the GPS reps also carry out their duty to ensure in this policy there is some check and balance in the cabinet,” he said.

Soo then reiterated the DAP’s commitment to fostering unity.

“I think that on this issue, regardless of political parties, GPS can work together with DAP, and I think DAP’s stance on this matter is very clear.

“We all want liberal Malaysia, and we are against the extremists and so I believe that GPS shares similar ideologies on these matters, and so we are asking for GPS to raise these matters, fully utilise the ministerial posts and also the deputy prime ministership to make this matter, to settle these matters for us, for the people,” he said.