NGOs lodge reports against Kula and Fadiah

M. Kulasegaran (left) with Fadiah Nadwa.

KUALA LUMPUR: Several NGOs have lodged police reports against Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran and lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fikri for allegedly stirring up racial sensitivities.

Gerakan Muslimah Islam Malaysia (GMIM) secretariat chairman Wan Asshima Kamaruddin claimed the duo should be investigated after lodging the report at Dang Wangi police headquarters around 3pm on Saturday.

Malay-language daily Utusan Malaysia published a report on July 27, claiming that Kulasegaran had referred to the Malay community as "pendatang" (immigrants) during a speech in Tamil that he made in Nilai, Negri Sembilan last month.

Kulasegaran, who is also Ipoh Barat MP, has since apologised for the comments and said his remarks had been misconstrued to suggest that he had used the word to refer "to people who would resent its application to them".

"I hereby unreservedly apologise for the hurt I may have caused and withdraw the offensive references in that extemporaneous speech.

for making references to the word "pendatang (immigrant)."

“For a minister to say such things is very serious and we demand that he resign. An apology is not enough,” said Wan Asshima.

The NGOs have also slammed Fadiah Nadwa for her alleged comments during a forum called “A People’s History of the Malayan Emergency”, where Fadiah was one of the panellists.

Utusan had reported that she had called for the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) to be recognised.

Fadiah has since refuted the report and claimed that her words were twisted.