YOURSAY | ‘Taking vengeance on his behalf would have been the last thing he would have wanted.’

Act against 4 ministers, exco over riots: Umno Youth to AG

David Dass: The sequence of events is important. The incident was triggered by a group of Malay thugs hired by someone to take control of the temple from its lawful custodian.

The thugs descended on the temple and intimidated the priest, his helpers and devotees. It took the police some time to arrive on the scene.

In the meantime, word was sent around that the temple was under siege. The police for whatever reason issued a statement to say that it was not a race issue, but one group of Indians fighting another group of Indians.

Indian ministers led by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department P Waythamoorthy reacted by issuing a statement calling on the police to act in a fair and impartial manner.

Many Indians angered by the incursion descended onto the scene and there was a clash between Hindus and the Malay thugs. One thing led to another and the following day firefighter Muhammad Adib Muhammad Kassim was injured.

There is a lack of clarity as to how he was injured. Police investigations will hopefully bring out the facts.

Those who assaulted the firefighter should be charged. Those who hired the Malay thugs should also be charged. They created an explosive situation which resulted in destruction, injury and even death. All that was foreseeable.

The Indian ministers were not responsible for what happened.

The Wakandan: There is something to take home from this.

While we blame Umno - and for that matter, Bersatu - as being racist, the action of these Indian ministers ganging up together to make a joint statement in the aftermath of the Seafield riot, showed how racially inclined we are.

Perhaps not many people saw this at work by the action of the four Indian ministers, rightly or wrongly.

It would have been better had Malay or Chinese ministers from Harapan made those statements. At least, they were not associated to the incident by race.

As long as we react to racial provocation in a knee-jerk manner, we will not be free from the accusation that we have a tendency to be racist in nature.

And that exacerbates the already volatile racial situation. It did not help to alleviate a call for calm.

Orang Kg IA: What instigation by ministers? Asking police to act speedily is wrong? Telling the truth of the incidents whereby outside gangsters were creating chaos in a temple is wrong?

Why isn’t Umno going after the people who were responsible for the riots and chaos? Why make the ministers as scapegoats?

Apa Ini: Adib died a hero. Taking vengeance on his behalf would have been the last thing he would have wanted. Don't politicise his death, please.

Call for Waytha's head to roll grows louder, PAS wants him out as well

Mushiro: PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan accused Waythamoorthy of being unprofessional by “lying” that the police failed to control the situation at the material time.

Waythamoorthy is not all wrong, as, if the police had controlled the situation, then Adib could have been saved.

Appum: If this is not racial talk then I don't know what is. Any more Indian ministers they want to remove from the cabinet?

Get rid of your racial lenses and substitute them with non-racial ones. Mob behaviour is always dangerous. So don't try to stir up such behaviour.

We all mourn the loss of young Adib and the police should find the guilty ones and charge them for murder as soon as possible.

Leaders should set a good example and act rationally and not add fuel to the fire.

YTMQ: Takiyuddin, I live at the Main Place Residence. From the eighth floor, where there's an infinity pool, and also smoker's corner (among others), we have a view of the Seafield temple area.

On that night, I watched the incident up till midnight. I was tired and went to bed after that. As we know, whatever that happened, took place after 2am.

But by around 11pm, there were already two FRU trucks in the vicinity. The traffic was at a standstill, and the crowd appeared to be guarding the temple (at least at that time).

By midnight, I really thought nothing would happen. This is my question to you - what happened to the two FRU truck-loads of personnel?

We know that each FRU truck would have carried at least a dozen personnel, correct? They could not have left after midnight because the crowd did not disperse. What were they doing at the material time?

This is not an incident that took place before FRU's arrival. In addition to that, there was heavy police presence in the area. I'm still baffled that this incident took place after the police and FRU had already arrived.

So, your accusation against Waythamoorthy that he allegedly lied that the police did not control the situation at the material time is unjustified.

Abd Karim: This has nothing to do with the minister. PAS should be careful not to spin on sensitive matters.

Racial strife will affect everybody. Even our children would be affected through such careless accusations by irresponsible politicians.

Khaled: Politicians should learn from Adib

RR: The Seafield temple melee came about because non-Hindu thugs entered the temple area to destroy it, which is a common strategy by developers when the temple authority refuses to move out.

In the melee, innocent firefighter Adib got injured and subsequently died in the execution of his duty. All Malaysians deplore this unfortunate episode where some others were severely injured too.

Politicians should not capitalise on this and incite racial and religious tension. Don't use the death of poor Adib for political gain. It is a sin to do so.

Let us take the advice of tycoon Vincent Tan, a non-Hindu, and resolve the temple issue amicably.

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