Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): The Cabinet has stressed that Chinese New Year decorations in schools are not religious in nature and not a way of spreading religion other than Islam.

In a statement issued after its meeting today, the Cabinet said it viewed seriously the actions taken by the parties playing up racial and religious tension by filing a police report on decorations in conjunction with Chinese New Year celebrations at SMK Pusat Bandar Puchong 1, Selangor.

The Cabinet said it does not agree with the racist and extremist attitude taken by the related parties as it undermines racial unity in the country.

"It is a common thing to put up decorations to celebrate festive occasions such as Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, and others. Malaysians are (living in) a multicultural society and have celebrated these occasions together for many years now.

"We need to respect one another because the cultural differences in our society are valuable assets to the nation," said the Cabinet in the statement released by the Prime Minister's Office.

Yesterday, Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (PUTRA) vice-president Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz threatened to file a police report against SMK Pusat Bandar Puchong 1 over its supposedly “religious” Chinese New Year decoration.

He insisted that the decoration was “unconstitutional” and claimed that Muslim parents had complained against what they saw as an attempt to propagate a non-Islam religion to students in the school.

Khairul Azam, who is a lawyer, did not provide any proof of the complaints.

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