PAS president Fadzil Noor will raise the issue of the recent racial clashes in Petaling Jaya Selatan at the proposed Malay unity talks with Umno, according to an NGO coalition today.*

"The PAS president agreed to discuss issues related to the recent violence in Petaling Jaya Selatan at the meeting with Umno," M Manogaran, spokesperson for the Group of Concerned Citizens (GCC), said in a statement.

Manogaran said GCC met Fadzil and other Barisan Alternatif leaders in Parliament this afternoon to discuss the need for national unity and other issues raised in the former's memorandum on the communal clashes.

GCC, a coalition of 46 NGOs, forwarded the [#1] memorandum[/#] to Parliament last month. Since then, five additional groups have backed the document, said the GCC leader.

Racism

The memorandum, addressed to prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, took the government to task for failing to confront the problem of racism which it claimed resulted in the Petaling Jaya Selatan clashes which left six dead and scores injured

"The government has not addressed the problem of racism. It continues to deny the problem while promoting it in its action and policies," the memorandum stated.

Also present at the 40-minute meeting at Parliament today were DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock, DAP MP for Bukit Mertajam Chong Eng, PAS Youth leader Mahfuz Omar and PAS central working committee member Dr Hatta Ramli.

Manogaran said that the meeting emphasised the need for a royal commission of inquiry to be established to investigate the causes of the clashes.

* Editor's note on April 12: A letter, [#2] We're NGIs, not NGOs [/#], from the group clarified that the members are non-governmental individuals and not representatives of non-governmental organisations as reported. We apologise for the error.