DAP has lodged a police report against a blogger who recently allegedly linked the incident of a Muslim teacher in a Johor Chinese school being asked to remove her headscarf (tudung) while teaching, to DAP’s increasing influence in the southern state.

Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud, the political secretary to Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang, lodged the police report on Saturday against the blogger, named ‘Azmy Kelana Jaya’, who in a Jan 17 posting said that “ DAP makin kuat di Johor, Islam makin dipijak ” (DAP getting stronger in Johor, Islam stepped on).

Both Dyana and Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching, who was also present when the report was lodged at the Kulaijaya police station, said that DAP is not linked to the incident in any way, and the blogger’s attempts to link the party was “ill-intentioned and seditious”.

“It is irresponsible for the blogger to link the ‘tudung’ incident with DAP. As a matter of fact, the school board’s chairperson Phang Ah Ngang is not a DAP member. There is no reason or justification for Azmy Awang Klana Jaya to discredit DAP that has no links whatsoever with the issue at hand,” Teo said in a statement today.

However, Teo said that this was not the first time DAP had been linked to a racial issue in Johor despite having no link to the issue.

“In the middle of last year, when a Chinese teacher allegedly said something racial, banners saying ‘ DAP Johor Sokong Cikgu Poh ’ were hung at several places,” Teo said.

Meanwhile, Dyana reminded that when a civil servant was prevented from wearing her niqab in 1985 due to a government circular, it was DAP national chairperson Karpal Singh who fought the case for the civil servant.

“DAP has always championed the right to freedom of religion for all Malaysians,” Dyana said.

On Jan 17, the school board chairperson and the principal of the SJK (C) Nan Ya vernacular school publicly apologised to the teacher, who is a Muslim convert.