PM Najib, stop tip-toeing around
'Why ask Malaysians to be calm? It's Utusan, Hisham, Rais, Ibrahim Ali and Pembela who are providing fuel to an unverified blog posting.'
Najib: Calm down, don't exploit religious issues
David Dass: The PM is correct. No one should exploit religious issues. In fact, no one should be allowed to exploit religious issues. The question does arise as to whether there were religious issues to exploit in this instance or were these religious issues deliberately and falsely created with the object of providing grist for the mill of the lunatic fringe.
There is so much that we have to do to deal with issues that affect our economy. The lower level of FDI and the brain drain are just two of these issues. How can we allow people who have so little understanding and interest in statehood and the economy be given so much power to disrupt and destroy.
I meet so many people and they have all become so pessimistic about the future of the nation. Many are taking steps to leave.
Gerard Samuel Vijayan: If the PM is serious, he should:
a) Suspend Utusan Malaysia's permit pending an inquiry as to the veracity of their sources of information.
b) Ask the police and the MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission) to investigate the blogs in question that first published this news.
c) Direct the police to take statements from all the pastors and politicians who attended the forum in Penang to determine if the alleged statements were made at all and what was the actual purpose of their gathering.
In the interim, tell Perkasa and Pembela to exercise some restraint and stop fanning anger, suspicion and hatred between the different races and religions simply based on unverified information that is frankly hard to believe.
Black Mamba: Now you are talking. It took you too long to break your silence. You spoke only after Dr Mahathir Mohamad said you are a weak leader . Where is your backbone?
Q..!: Najib, why ask Malaysians to be calm? It's Utusan , Hishammuddin Hussein, Rais Yatim, Ibrahim Ali and Pembela who are providing fuel to an unverified posting by a couple of bloggers. They took the news as gospel truth and then issued threats.
As a PM, you should have taken immediate stern actions to calm the situation instead of issuing a lame statement asking us to be calm.
Saw Teik Lim: No one from the middle ground believes this provocative distortion one bit by Utusan . Firstly, because we wouldn't dare and secondly, we can count.
Not only that, we have been brought up by our parents that this is a land where being right does not matter. So who is being calm and who is exploiting the baseless allegations?
I'm being defensively calm against these accusations because I don't have the power nor the inclination to do otherwise.
Tell the Truth: Najib, you are really the one behind all these accusations and yet pretend to call for calm. You are such a hypocrite.
Jimmy Ng: Najib says, "If anyone tries to jeopardise the peace, we will not allow it to happen." Well, we are all waiting for you to take action against Utusan . If you don't, then we know what your 1Malaysia means.
PenangGuy: Well spoken, Mr Prime Minister. You said that religion is a sensitive matter and everyone in the country must preserve the peace and avoid tension among the people. So what action are you going to take against Utusan Malaysia which put up that front-page news about the Christians plotting with the opposition to make Christianity the official religion of Malaysia?
Isn't that creating tension among the people of Malaysia. Come on, Mr PM and Mr Home Minister - show us that you have the guts to suspend Utusan and maybe shut down the newspaper completely as they have been constantly publishing articles to incite racial and religious tension.
Malaysian for Malaysia: Najib, please don't let 1969 repeat itself under your rule. It would then be ''like father, like son''.
Heads must roll in Utusan for their irresponsible reporting. Bloggers are bloggers, they can write what they want and everyone should take blogs with a grain of salt. The mainstream media, on the other, has to be responsible for what they print, otherwise the Printing Presses and Publications Act would be irrelevant.
Please Mr PM, do what's needed this time in the best interest of whole country and not just Umno.
Nap: In the first instance, Utusan Malaysia is irrresponsible for publishing the article based on two blog posts. Where is the journalistic standard of checking facts and presenting the evidence?
And now that it's out, the big question is if they can't prove it, will the PM suspend Utusan's licence? Bets anyone?
Hisham, don't take Utusan report as gospel truth
Cannon: Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein is quick to use Utusan's allegations to fan the flame against the Christians. Any minister worth his salt would be doubly cautious to issue any statement relying on the reporting of Utusan . Not our minister of home affairs. He'd rush in, where fools fear to tread.
The minister should investigate, by all means, Utusan's charge. If the charge is made out, he should apply the full brunt of the law against those guilty. On the other hand, if there is no basis to Utusan's claim, the minister must charge Utusan for sedition and reprimand himself for his reckless, opportunistic and irresponsible statement in inflaming religious tension and discord.
The law cuts both ways, unless of course it is Umno's law.
Sewajarnya: Hishammuddin is not so stupid as not knowing that Utusan is lying outright to create social unrest. He is merely another hypocrite who is siding with Utusan on the issue.
HisShamMoreDim_WhoSaid_On?: This is the time when DYMM Yang DiPertuan Agong as our constitutional monarchy and head of Islam in our country should rise above politics and haul those irresponsible parties trying to fan racial and religious fires to answer for their misdeeds.
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