Photo: Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR: Ahead of the upcoming Deepavali celebration next week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has urged all Malaysians to preserve unity in the country and be on guard against any form of right-wing extremism.
Anwar said it is concerning that local political parties are constantly playing up racial narratives in their arguments against government policies.
According to Anwar, racial narratives always appeal to the masses, and this was seen in Europe and the US with the rise of right-wing ideologies.
"The explanation of racial narratives are always stronger and this was seen in Europe and the US.
"Right wing extremists have called for attacks on minorities and foreigners. This is the narrative that we should be on guard against," said Anwar in his opening speech at a Deepavali Open House organised by the National Unity Ministry and the Digital Ministry at Kuala Lumpur on Saturday (Oct 8).
"That is why Malaysians must be smarter, be more aware and exposed to information. This is an explanation. Democracy will not have a meaning if we don’t give explanations to the people," he added.
Anwar said it isn’t easy to please all races in Malaysia, as criticisms will always arise when the government announces a specific allocation or aid program for a specific race.
"When you speak a bit about bumiputera rights, the Chinese will say something. When you announce additional projects for the Indians, the Malays will say they are left out from development.
"This is the narrative brought from villages, to cities and even to the Parliament," he said.
According to Anwar, certain MPs are even making state allocations a racial issue in Parliament.
"For example, if there are extra allocations to Penang and just because it isn’t a Malay-majority state, it is attacked right away (by MPs).
"They (Opposition) don’t have any points to criticise Budget 2026, so they raised it up," said Anwar.
At the same time, Anwar said he recently met with several Indian social media influencers and activists, where he told them not to ask the government to only announce
Anwar also said the government wants to help Malaysians across the country according to needs and not race.
One example, said Anwar, was Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia's (AIM) recent announcement in June to allocate RM50mil to empower Indian women entrepreneurs.
"I was shocked to see RM50mil for the Indian community (by AIM). These are among the new initiatives by the government," he added.
Anwar also said the Indian community is set to benefit from the additional RM1.2bil allocation channeled to the Housing Credit Guarantee Scheme.
