Utusan Malaysia should retract an editorial it had carried last week over the possibility of a ‘major’ war and apologise for trying to provoke and pit non-Malays against Malays, said DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.

NONE The daily should also be ashamed and apologise “for misleading and cheating the public” by highlighting unsubstantiated allegations by Perak mufti Harussani Zakaria that an ‘alternative constitution’ was being disseminated as part of moves to replace the federal constitution and its provisions on the position of Malays, said Lim ( left ).

Citing Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz who has reportedly rubbished the Utusan report that appeared on Aug 18 as baseless and false ‘coffee-shop’ talk, Lim said Utusan should be ashamed and apologise “for misleading and cheating the public”.

“ Utusan should be ashamed for publishing provocative reports pitting non-Malays against Malays and threatening a big war worse than May 13 racial riots that turned out to be false,” said Lim, who is also Bagan MP, in a statement today.

“No proof had been offered of who was pushing for a new constitution or what were its contents,” Lim added.

azlan In the op-ed piece by Zaini Hassan entitled ‘ Benar, 'perang besar' boleh berlaku di Malaysia' (It's true, a 'large-scale war' can take place in Malaysia), it was claimed that a war that will dwarf the May 13 1969 riots “is imminent if the government does nothing to curb racial tension caused by those who continue to stoke racial fires".

The article had also cited allegations by Harussani ( above ) reported a day earlier of the existence of an alternate constitution would replace the current one providing for the abolition of the special rights of Malays and the position of Islam as the official religion.

NONE Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim had similarly dismissed the warnings by Utusan , which he said derive from its attempts to cover up the corruption and oppressiveness of the BN-led government.

“The tension (between the races, if any) is not as serious as they say it is,” said the Permatang Pauh MP.

On the purported ‘alternate’ constitution, Anwar said: “If it is true, (let the police) investigate it. If such a thing exists, if it goes against the aspirations of the people. Action can be taken,”  he added.