MP denies he wants to remove religion from MyKad
MIRI: Second term Miri MP Dr Micheal Teo has dismissed as fake a report by a newspaper in Peninsular Malaysia alluding to him intending to move a motion to delete religion from the Mykad.
His political secretary Voon Shiak Ni, who is Pakatan Harapan (PH) national women chief for Sarawak affairs and PKR National Women vice-chief, urged Facebook users to ignore the news as false.
“I wish to clarify here that this is fake news which was first rolled out by a paper in West Malaysia and since Harapan is now the government of the day, we do not wish to continue to be defensive on matters which have no material truth,” she said in a press conference yesterday at the Miri MP Service Centre which was also attended by Dr Teo.
Voon said the misleading news about Dr Teo’s intention to move a motion to delete religion from Malaysian identity card had been making its rounds in Facebook nationwide in the past two days.
“I as the pol sec (political secretary) for Dr Michael Teo wish to reassure everyone that we do not have any intention to move any motion to remove religion from our IC and or any legal documentation,” she stressed.
Voon pointed out that Malaysia is a multi-racial and multireligious country and PKR promotes the highest order of mutual respect for religious practices among all Malaysians which is enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
“I humbly urge everyone especially our netizens on Facebook not to continue to viral the issue and let the matter rest,” she said.
Dr Teo claimed that his Facebook page had been a victim of people posting fake news attributed to him, which he usually ignored as it would be an endless cycle.
“I am not going to respond to every fake news and will only do so through formal press conference,” he said.
The Miri MP had been flayed for the alleged proposed motion, drawing flaks from both friends and foes in the political arena after the issue surfaced on social media.
Former PKR candidate for Lambir, Zulhaidah Suboh, on Sunday urged him instead to focus on the problems faced by the people here and not meddle in religious issues.
Stating she personally disagreed with such motion, Zulhaidah said Dr Teo should not propose to delete religion from the Malaysian identity card but instead focus on the 100-days manifesto of Pakatan Harapan (PH).
She was referring to the ‘Motion of Abolishing Religion from Identity Card’ allegedly proposed by Dr Teo which was published on May 18.