KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 — Head of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s (PPBM) Youth wing Armada, Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal, today demanded that DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng apologise for his speech cautioning voters not to let the “green wave” into Penang due to the alleged risk to religious freedom there.
The Machang MP warned that Perikatan Nasional (PN) will take exception to DAP if the party continues to play up race, religion, and royalty (3R) issues in its state election campaign.
“We have checked and transcribed all recordings and Lim was clearly trying to pin the blame on the Kedah government. What he said was baseless, seditious and fearmongering. It was a racist and extremist act towards us.
“We demand that Lim Guan Eng apologise to Perikatan Nasional, Muslims and Malays over this matter. If anyone from DAP continues to play the race and religion card, we will make our objection known and demand an immediate apology,” he said.
Ahmad Fahysal said over 50 police reports had been lodged nationwide and the latest was made this morning at 11.35am by Wilayah Persekutuan Armada chief Safwan Manoga at Dang Wangi district police headquarters here.
He said the police reports are a reminder to politicians on all sides not to stir up 3R issues.
“It is OK if you want to touch on race and religion but what Lim said was extreme. When some PAS politicians made extreme racial statements in GE15, we demanded that they apologise. It is not just for our opposition but also for the PN,” he said.
He also challenged Lim to file a lawsuit against MalaysiaNow and China Press if the media outlets had mistranslated him.
“Why are you blaming them? Sue them if they are wrong. We monitored and checked every single minute of his speech. The media reported it correctly,” he said.
Last Saturday, Lim said that he regretted that his speech in Mandarin had allegedly been intentionally twisted and portrayed as if he was fanning racial and religious sentiments, saying that it had never crossed his mind to use 3R issues to garner votes as he believes those issues would jeopardise the harmony of Malaysia’s multiracial and multireligious community.
Lim said he was referring to the case of a Hindu temple being demolished in July 2020 in Alor Setar, Kedah.
Today, Lim also accused PN of allegedly maliciously using defamation to make politically-motivated false allegations against him based on his speech.
China Press had on July 7 reported Lim’s speech where he reportedly claimed that Hindu temples risk being demolished by the “green wave” if it does not like the sight of such temples.
In its July 8 translation, MalaysiaNow cited Lim as allegedly suggesting that Buddhist temples were at risk of destruction if the “green wave” arrives in Penang.
MalaysiaNow’s July 8 article currently carries an “editor’s note”, where the portal claimed that China Press had amended its quote in the news report to add the word “Indian” before the word “temples” and to remove the word “Buddha”.
In the same article, China Press reproduced the sentence from its news report and also published Lim’s full remarks based on an audio recording.
The “green wave” — named after PAS’s party colour — was coined to describe the rise in Malay-Muslim conservatism espoused by the Islamist party and its PN partner Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu).
