Opposition leader Fadzil Nor today accused de facto law minister Dr Rais Yatim of issuing a seditious statement and inciting racial hatred.

"Rais claims that the Chinese have been incited into seeking equality with the Malays. He wants the Malays to prepare for the eventuality that the Chinese will usurp their rights," said Fadzil, who is also president of PAS, in a media statement today.

Fadzil was referring to a newspaper report on Dec 14 in Utusan Malaysia entitled "Suspicion will spread" which quoted Rais as saying, "Suspicion among the Malays will spread if the Malaysian Chinese Elections Appeals Committee (Suqiu) refuses to retract its appeals."

Suqiu has been the centre of controversy with its 17-point election appeals that called for, among others, the abolishment of distinctions between Bumiputra and non-Bumiputra, resulting in Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad likening Suqiu and its leaders to communists of the past and the extremist Al-Ma'unah cult.

Speaking on behalf of the Barisan Alternatif (BA) which comprises PRM, DAP and Keadilan besides PAS, Fadzil said in the statement that his (Rais') statement seemed like a warning to the Malay community to prepare for a possible confrontation with the Chinese community.

Extreme stance

"It is clear Rais is taking advantage of this issue as an opportunity to become a hero among the Malays and to bring back support for Umno which is undergoing disintegration and destruction," Fadzil said.

The PAS president said the Utusan report further quoted Rais as saying that "in the history of other countries, this the first phase towards racial chaos" and that "he (Rais) believes that law enforcement is needed at this stage, especially the police to deter racial issues from being highlighted".

Fadzil added that Malaysia was in the process of achieving harmony and unity, therefore the statement made by Rais exhibited an extreme stance, incompatible with Malaysia's multi-racial makeup.

"The BA demands that Rais retract his extreme statement and immediately apologise to the people of Malaysia.

"Rais' action is evil, backward, negative and in total disregard for the greater future of Malaysia," Fadzil said.

Racial conflict

Meanwhile, a police report against Rais' statement was lodged at the Dang Wangi police station signed human rights lawyer Sivarasa Rasiah, PAS central committee member Dr Hatta Ramli, Keadilan supreme council member Ng Lum Yong and DAP member of parliament for Tanjong, Chow Kon Yeow.

The report said that "Dr Rais Yatim has been making statements that clearly incite the Malays to be prepared for a racial conflict."

"We ask the police to investigate immediately and take appropriate action as provided for under the Sedition Act," the report said.