Barisan Nasional leaders should not succumb to emotional pressure to flip-flop over policy matters but instead be consistent with political statements that concern the wellbeing and welfare of all Malaysians.

This was what DAP national vice-president M Kulasegaran told Malaysiakini , commenting that this inconsistency in policy matters caused suffering to the country and its people, as well as being a big drawback to the country’s progress.

Kulasegaran cited Malaysia's education system as an example of BN politicians giving way to pressures for their political survival.

This resulted in rapid revisions of the education syllabus in the past 30 years, leading to the deterioration of the standard of education in the country.

In comparison, neighbouring Singapore has maintained high education standards to the envy of most Malaysians.

The latest of BN’s flip-flops was deciding not to set up an interfaith commission (IFC) for formalised inter-religious dialogues and to reach a mutual understanding of religious matters.

On Jan 16, deputy premier Muhyiddin Yassin was quoted as saying that the time might have come for an interfaith council to reach mutual consensus over religious affairs.

Then on Jan 30, Muhyiddin announced the government had ruled out forming the commission, preferring to rely on ad-hoc discussions.

Kulasegaran said, "This shows that there is no consistency in their policies for the well-being of all Malaysians.

"The sensitivities of religion and race are once again being whipped up by some irresponsible people who are out to create racial tensions and ill-feelings among the various races in the country."

 

He said that setting up the IFC was urgently needed to defuse tensions among Malaysians.

"We cannot go on pretending that there is peace and harmony in the country when reality speaks otherwise and the government must address such shortcomings with the setting-up of IFC," he reasoned.