Wanita Umno divs lodge police report against Waytha
KOTA KINABALU: A total of 191 Wanita Umno divisions from around the country have lodged police reports against Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department P Waytha Moorthy for allegedly inciting racial tension and for threatening national security.
Wanita Umno Sabah chief Datuk Jainab Ahmad Ayid said all 25 Wanita Umno divisions in Sabah along with the Wanita Umno Sabah central division (including the divisions from other states) had lodged their reports simultaneously at separate police stations yesterday.
“Wanita Umno wants Waytha Moorty to be investigated under Section 4 of the Sedition Act 1948 or any other relevant existing laws,” Jainab told reporters when met at Balai Polis Karamunsing yesterday.
Wanita Umno is calling on Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to expel Waytha Moorthy from his ministerial position.
“This is due to the (proposed) ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) issue, which was polemical and controversial,” Jainab explained.
Jainab said that the ICERD proposal made by Waytha Moorthy, who is also the minister in-charge of unity, had caused disunity among the people.
“He (Waytha Moorthy) is not our ‘unity minister’; to us, he is the ‘disunity minister’. The issue raised by him had caused disunity among the races in the country.”
“We have been united all this while. All the (previous) government policies protected all races…we don’t want the May 13 Tragedy to happen again,” she asserted.
Jainab added that the police report was based on the recent video recording of Waytha Moorthy whereby the latter had allegedly accused the previous Barisan Nasional government of discriminating the Indian community in Malaysia.
In the interview with a Dutch TV station, which occurred ten years ago, Waytha Moorthy had allegedly claimed that 10,000 temples in Malaysia were destroyed and that the rights of the non-Malays and non-Muslims were neglected.
Wanita Umno stressed that the two-minute and 39-second video had given the wrong impression about the country as it had indicated that Malaysia was facing ‘chronic human rights violations’.
Jainab said that the Federal Constitution clearly protected the rights of the Malays and the Bumiputras and at the same time, the rights of the races were never once neglected.
Meanwhile, later at noon, a peaceful protest led by Umno Sabah was conducted at the state mosque after the Friday prayers.
Later on the same day, Putrajaya released a statement saying that it would not ratify ICERD.
“The government will continue to defend the Federal Constitution which includes the social contract agreed upon by representatives of all races during the founding of this nation,” said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.