KUALA LUMPUR, 24 Oct — Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Youth wing said today it will use the Tanjong Piai by-election next month as a platform for a roadshow across the country in order to save the nation’s multi-ethnic harmony.

BN Youth chief Datuk Seri Asyraf Wajdi Dasuki claimed the former ruling coalition has the experience to cultivate a peaceful and harmonious Malaysia, which he alleged is now being destroyed by Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) so-called dangerous narrative.

“The country’s situation now shows a worryingly high tension among the races. We will organise programmes such as town hall, speeches and discussions to go into the rural and urban areas, meeting the people to talk about true Malaysian values.

“Unlike the new narrative of Pakatan Harapan that promotes prejudice and sceptical views that lead to accusations among everyone,” he told a press conference at Umno headquarters here.

The other two BN component parties were represented by MCA Youth chief Nicole Wong Siaw Ting and MIC counterpart R. Thinalan.

Asyraf gave examples of PH ministers P. Waytha Moorthy and M. Kulasegaran as those who allegedly made statements that were detrimental to inter-ethnic relations in the country.

He also accused Kulasegaran of not retracting a remark allegedly calling the Malay majority “pendatang” or immigrants.

“The ‘pendatang’ issue should never be mentioned.

“We beg Pakatan Harapan government to stop racially-tinged statements, for example saying the [alliance between Umno and PAS] as a ‘Taliban coalition’ and subsequently putting fear in the Chinese and Indians, among others,” he said.

This is despite Kulasegaran’s denial that he ever said Malays are immigrants, following Umno-owned media reporting him allegedly saying as such during a Tamil-language event in July last year.

BN suffered a shock defeat at the hands of PH in the 14th general election, but its three parties still control 40 out of 222 Dewan Rakyat seats as well as retain Pahang and Perlis state governments.

Dominant component Umno has since forged an alliance with rival-turned-ally, Islamist party PAS.