‘Concerned M’sians’ object to Umno’s support for store boycott

PETALING JAYA: A group of “concerned Malaysians”, including academicians, activists and ex-politicians, has condemned Umno’s decision to support a boycott of KK Super Mart over the controversial socks issue.

The group of 23, whose members span across all ethnicities, faiths and regions of Malaysia, including Sarawak and Sabah, said that Umno has “proposed an excessive punishment bordering on bullying, extremism and political opportunism”.

The group said in a statement that they “totally reject” Umno’s decision to support its Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh in the boycott of the convenience store chain.

Among those who signed the group’s statement were academicians Prof Dr Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi, Dr Lim Teck Ghee, and Dr James Chin, as well as former Sungai Benut MP Tawfik Ismail, lawyer Siti Kasim, and writers Dr KJ John and ES Shankar.

Their statement follows Umno’s decision to support Dr Akmal, who has publicly campaigned for a boycott of all KK Super Mart stores after socks bearing the word “Allah” were found in one of its stores last week.

“We, Malaysians of all races and religions, accept the apologies made by KK Super Mart, whether by virtue of their negligence or dereliction in the display of the (socks) with the name “Allah”.

“We, Malaysians of all races and religions, uphold the investigation of the authorities and await the final outcome and punishment by the authorities, not by Umno extremists,” the group said.

“We, Malaysians of all races and religions, honour the values of all our religions in forgiveness, compassion, tolerance and understanding,” it added.

The group also said they were “extremely disappointed” with Umno, whom they said could have been a good partner in the unity government alliance.

This was since Umno had once “saved the nation from a coalition of extremist politics”, they said.