National civics bureau needs revamp, says Group of 25

PETALING JAYA: The National Civics Bureau (BTN) should be revamped as it is undermining multiculturalism in the country, says the Group of 25 (G25) prominent Malays.

Its coordinator Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin said the bureau never used to be racist, and called on the Government to tackle the issue.

She said there needed to be a change of staff and co-curriculum in the BTN if it were to be taken seriously.

“It never used to be like this, it was multiracial and fun. Everyone knows that since the late 1980s, it changed.

“It cannot carry on the way it is at the present,” she told The Star Online on Saturday in response to allegations that an open letter by the G25 had resulted in pluralist and liberal groups speaking up.

The allegations were made in slides uploaded onto BTN’s website in March but taken down last week after it was widely circulated in social media.

When asked how she felt when she first heard of the slides, Faridah said she was in disbelief.

“Oh my God. I didn’t know to laugh or to cry. It is just unbelievable how they came up with all their conclusions,” she said.

The slides also said that because G25 members were educated in the 1960s and 1970s, they were influenced by socialism.

“We attended government schools, so how did they come to the conclusion that we are socialists?” asked Faridah.

BTN also said G25 was politically motivated, citing Faridah’s role in the Pulau Batu Putih territorial issue when she was the ambassador to the Netherlands.

“What is wrong with them? They must have low IQs. They are incapable of analysis and have no thinking skills obviously,” she said.