PAS Youth has criticised Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail’s remarks on the arrest of ex-journalist Rex Tan as merely dismissive of a more serious problem of "ultra-chauvinism" amongst the ethnic Chinese community.

The wing's deputy chairperson Hafez Sabri described Saifuddin’s remarks on Tan’s arrest as a failure to defend the country’s dignity, cautioning that a lack of action would only continue to embolden those who threatened national harmony.