This after its organisers failed to secure the venue for the second time, said the Malay Proclamation secretariat.

In a statement issued on Saturday (March 18), the organisers said that the hall management where the event was supposed to be held did not provide any reason for their cancellation of the venue booking.

“The programme involving statesman Dr Mahathir which is due to be held tomorrow faced difficulties when the first venue of the event, which was booked earlier, was cancelled due to technical issues.

“However, the booking of the second venue too was cancelled and the management of the hall informed us of this at 9am – 24 hours before the event was due to begin.

“No reasons were given for the cancellation. We apologise to the invitees for having had to change the venue twice. We will make a statement on this very soon,” said the secretariat.

The Malay Proclamation rally was supposed to have been a gathering of Malay groups on issues of Malay rights.

On March 17, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim issued a stern warning against parties he said were using race and religion to promote strife, ahead of the rally.  ANN

Stern warning must be followed up with action

We seem to be hearing the same recording again, with the same words and phrases. Would you say twice in three months becomes monotonous?

I am referring to yesterday’s warning from Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani that stern action will be taken against those who make statements that raise racial tensions.

Why do we hear the same warnings from our officialdom without any action being taken?

On Dec 1 last year, I wrote: “Like Rip Van Winkle who woke up after a 20-year-long sleep, the powers-that-be are finally waking up to the bitter truth – the dangers of allowing self-appointed guardians of race and religion to spew hatred with their rhetoric.

“It was not an overnight phenomenon – it had been happening over the years with politicians playing the Zionist-Israeli card and stoking the fire with wayward statements – renunciations and diatribes against the minority races who happen to profess a different religion.

“Two days after GE15, Acryl (above) warned social media users against uploading content that would threaten public safety and order.”

Yesterday, Acryl said something similar – the police will continuously monitor the security situation and will take stern action without compromise against anyone found issuing statements touching on racial and religious sensitivity which can threaten the country’s harmony.

However, these (repeated) words will amount to nothing if it is not followed up with action. Year in and year out, we have heard about warnings and stern warnings. But has anything happened?

Acryl gives the impression that this is a new phenomenon and says the public is advised not to issue or share any statement that can affect racial harmony or cause public anxiety.

The issue has been allowed to simmer uncontrolled because some people consider themselves privileged and above the law.

IGP Sir, please ask your officers to keep tabs on social media if they are not already doing it. If they can find, investigate and prosecute seditious statements against royal households, why are they not picking out those statements which are raising tensions against people of different faiths?

(Surfing the net last night, I came across no less than 10 statements on social media that were cause for concern.)

I just want to point out an incident which sticks out as a sore thumb. This preacher from India went to the stadium in Kota Baru and made explicit statements on the status of non-Malays.

He had been previously preached on such lines and yet, he is still walking around free as if he is untouchable.

During the GE15 campaign, former PM Muhyiddin Yassin ranted against Christians and Jews claiming Pakatan Harapan was involved in an agenda to “Christianise” the country.

In a recording of a ceramah in Johor, he claimed a group of Jews want Pakatan Harapan to win the election and alleged that the party was working with Jews and Christians to “colonise” the country.

Muhyiddin claimed these remarks were taken out of context and are certainly no defence to such hurtful words but I had asked: “What did you actually mean?”

Who to blame?

I have said it before and I will repeat it: Part of the blame for the surge of such statements should fall on the police and to a certain extent, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC).

This is because both these organisations have dragged their feet over prosecuting offenders for reasons better known to them.

In April 2021, appearing on behalf of the AGC, deputy public prosecutor Ainul Amirah said the AGC was unwilling to prosecute Perlis-based preacher Zamri Vinoth Kalimuthu and Multiracial Reverted Muslims founder and president Firdaus Wong as police had classified their cases as “no further action”.

So, when the enforcement and prosecution do not want to proceed, what’s the purpose of issuing warnings, and then stern warnings?

This is the root of the problem. When you do not nip the problem in the bud and allow it to nurture and grow, just like off-shoots, others will join the fray and make similar statements.

Why do the police not want to take action against those who belittle other religions? There have been far too many cases and several hundred reports made but as usual, nothing happened.

Some men are under the (mistaken) belief that they have carte blanche to say anything and everything as long as they are dressed in a green Arab gown and a skull cap to go with it.

Unless Acryl and the police are serious and genuinely want to put an end to this problem, they should divert their effort and time to investigate, arrest and prosecute the wrongdoers – pronto.  MKINI

ANN  /  MKINI

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