KLUANG: Addressing racial hate speech will be a key focus for the unity government in the upcoming Mahkota state seat by-election, says Johor Pakatan Harapan deputy chairman Aminolhuda Hassan.

He said that the recent flashcard performance during the National Day Parade has been used as a tool to spread hatred by "those who failed to form a government."

"It clearly shows their ill intentions. They only took videos and screenshots of the part where the Chinese calligraphy was shown and used it to stir up hateful sentiments.

"In reality, the flashcards also included Tamil and Bahasa, as well as representations of Sabah and Sarawak," he added.

Aminolhuda said that as National Day is a celebration of Malaysia's unity and diverse backgrounds, it's natural to include different languages in the flashcard performance.

This comes after a photo and video of a flashcard performance during the National Day Parade, showing the word "Welcome" in Mandarin, was spread on social media with a caption questioning what the word meant.

Aminolhuda said this when met after officiating at the ceremony of the new Simpang Renggam PKR office on Jalan Sinar, Simpang Renggam, on Sunday (Sept 1).

The event was officiated by Deputy Energy Transition and Water Transformation Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir.

On this, Akmal Nasrullah said that such dirty political tactics are the main challenge that the unity government's election machinery will have to face in the Mahkota by-election.

"Using the National Day celebration as a tool to create such sentiments clearly shows a lack of respect.

"I hope this incident will help local voters, especially fence-sitters, to better understand why they should support the unity government," said Akmal Nasrullah, who is also the PKR strategy director.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/09/01/mahkota-polls-addressing-hate-speech-a-priority-for-unity-govt-says-johor-pakatan