Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s recent call for moderates of all religions to come together cannot be taken seriously unless he takes swift action against Perkasa for its extremist actions, Teresa Kok said today.
The Selangor DAP chairman charged that the Prime Minister’s inaction against the Malay rights group would only encourage it to continue issuing unwarranted threats against Christians in Malaysia.
“Yesterday, Najib delivered a mockery of a speech at Oxford University where he called upon the world community to embrace moderation as the best course of action.
“Najib’s words have no credibility because he has failed to match them with credible action. If Najib truly believes in moderation, he would have denounced Ibrahim Ali’s remarks outright and stated that such threats have no place in his so-called 1 Malaysia,” she said in a statement today.
Najib had, during a speech at the Islamic Centre of the prestigious Oxford University in Britain, said that it was not enough to go after individuals or organisations to address global violence as a lasting solution could only be achieved by seeking out root causes.
“Our choice is clear. Come together in action for a future of justice, freedom, hope, compassion and goodwill for our children or it will be replaced by a future of injustice, tyranny, hopelessness, cruelty and hate.
“Because the real divide is not between East and West or between the developed and developing worlds or even between Muslims and non-Muslims. It is between moderates and extremists of all religions,” Najib said in a speech on the “Coalition of Moderates and Inter-Civilisational Understanding” on Monday.
In response, Kok accused Najib as well as other Umno leaders of “making excuses” for Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali’s “hate and fear-mongering,” citing statements made by Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and law minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz.
Utusan Malaysia, a Malay daily owned by Umno, alleged that church leaders were hatching a plot with the DAP to turn Malaysia into a Christian state and install a Christian prime minister.
Christian leaders and DAP members have denied the reports which have sparked protests but the Home Ministry has only slapped Utusan Malaysia with a warning letter for publishing the unsubstantiated report.
Najib was forced to meet with church leaders to clear the air but Umno vice president and Home Minister Hishammuddin later said that there was “some basis” to the reports.
Malays rights group Perkasa also threatened Christians nationwide that it would wage a crusade or holy war should the church proceed with the alleged agenda to usurp Islam.
Similarly Nazri has said that no action would be taken against Perkasa or Ibrahim for “threatening” Christians.
“I urge Najib, Nazri and Hishammuddin to stop allowing religious and racial extremism to persist in Malaysia, stop endangering the lives of Malaysians and take immediate action against Ibrahim Ali by charging him for criminal intimidation under clause 506 of the Penal Code,” said the Seputeh MP.
