DAP wishes all Hindus in Malaysia a Blessed Thaipusam. This year’s celebrations will be muted due to the 2nd Movement Control Order(MCO) and Emergency Proclamation brought about by the Perikatan Nasional(PN) government’s mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sadly Malaysia is now the worst country in ASEAN for COVID-19 infections per capita.
Cabinet Ministers must be held responsible for failing to do their job of committing resources, equipment, and manpower to support our front liners. Full implementation of the 3Ts of testing, tracing and treatment, including all close contacts of COVID-19 patients, must not be stopped. Unfortunately, delivery of the vaccines was delayed by two months, causing many lives to be lost unnecessarily.
We hope that the crisis and threat of COVID-19 can recede when the vaccine is introduced over the next 18 months. However, there is an equally greater threat to the nation-building and unity of 32 million Malaysians, including Sabah and Sarawak.
PN government leaders are raising extremist religious and racist sentiments to cover up its failure to check the surge in COVID-19 cases. PAS Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has shown the ugly face of hostility towards non-Muslims and non-Malays by bullying the Hindu community in his state. First a Hindu temple was demolished, hurled racial slurs against Indian leaders and abolished the Thaipusam state holiday in Kedah.
When Zulkiflee SM Anwar Haque, better known as Zunar, drew a cartoon critical of the abolition of the Thaipusam state holiday, PAS leaders lodged a police report against him for sedition. PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang continues to blame non-Muslims and non-Malays even though their representation in government is negligible and lowest in history, by claiming that the non-Muslims are racing to grab the chance at political power.
There is a vaccine against COVID-19 but there is no vaccine against religious extremism and racism. It is up to all Malaysians to stand together against those who seek to destroy the racial tolerance and religious harmony in multi-cultural Malaysia. We must unite with our moderate Malay and Muslim brothers and sisters like Zunar or Syed Sadiq, to oppose such racists and religious extremists who want the country to regress with hate and lies, rather than be governed by love and compassion.