KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said every race in the country should be considerate of the feelings of other races.
He said this when commenting on the issue of the educationist group Dong Jiao Zong’s move to hold a congress on Dec 28 to protest the implementation of the Jawi manuscript module in vernacular schools.
He said it could stir the emotions and lead to reactions from other groups.
“That will only result in Malays having their congress and talking about closing down Chinese schools and all that.
“You do that kind of thing, you will get reaction.
“We are a multiracial country. It is important for us to be considerate about other people’s feelings
“If you do this in many (other) countries, the people take to the streets, they fight each other, throw tear gas and all that.
“If you want Malaysia to be like that, go ahead,” Dr Mahathir said on the sidelines of the Fifth Kuala Lumpur Summit 2019.
Sin Chew Daily on Friday reported that Dong Jiao Zong would chair a meeting with Chinese associations to urge the government to do away with the module on Jawi script in vernacular schools.
The group has invited all Chinese associations to attend the meeting and urged the board of directors of vernacular schools to return the newest guidelines on the module to their respective state Education Departments as a sign of protest.
Asked whether he thought people should be prevented from going to the congress, Dr Mahathir said: “This is a free country. We allow freedom of speech.
“But, we also have to be sensitive towards other races living in this country.
“If you start making attacks against other races or going against the Constitution, the end result will be chaos, instability... and everybody will be poor and we will see a lot of Malaysians migrating to other countries,” he said.
