Low Yat violence a result of National Civics Bureau indoctrination and hard times: Nurul Izzah

KUALA LUMPUR — The racially-charged weekend riot at Low Yat Plaza that broke out over a handphone is symptomatic of the ethnic distrust among Malaysians created by the government’s National Civics Bureau (BTN), PKR’s Nurul Izzah Anwar said.

The PKR vice-president said the ongoing economic uncertainty could have also exacerbated the situation, noting that many of those who rioted had believed unsubstantiated rumours that the handphone seller, a Chinese, had attempted to rip off his Malay customer with a counterfeit product.

“Organised propaganda gets immersed in everyday reality. Training programmes like BTN then marries into the everyday reality faced by the average Malay, the low-income group people where you feel victimised because of your situation in life.”

“You add in unemployment, poor job prospects.... these people then become vulnerable to such racial rhetoric of distrust spewed by BTN, and they act out on it,” she told Malay Mail Online in a recent interview.

“There is nothing Islamic about violent retaliation, about justifying physical abuse, harassment in the name of Islam,” the second-term Lembah Pantai Member of Parliament (MP) added.

Ms Nurul Izzah said she is worried that Malaysia is becoming increasingly affected by racial issues, with more hardline groups like Perkasa and Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA) pushing their agendas.

“Politics in Malaysia has been coloured by race, religion....and certain groups use this to push hatred,” she said.

The riot which broke out on Sunday night (July 12) at Low Yat Plaza left five people injured, including several journalists.

The riot reportedly started after 22-year-old Shahrul Anuar Abdul Aziz was handed over on Saturday to the police for allegedly stealing a RM800 (S$286) phone from a store at the popular tech mall.

Police have said that Shahrul’s friend, who was also nabbed but later released, had contacted their other friends and the group returned to the mobile phone store, smashed up the place and assaulted its workers, resulting in damages estimated at RM70,000.

The spread of the counterfeit phone rumours then led to calls for retribution against “cheating” Chinese traders and the popular gadget complex.

The incident ended in a mob descending on the mall on Sunday night.

The man at the centre of the disturbance, Shahrul, pleaded not guilty at the Magistrate’s Court yesterday to the offence punishable under Section 380 of the Penal Code.

If convicted, the unemployed young man, whose parents are said to be disabled, faces a maximum 10-year jail term and a fine, with subsequent offences punishable by imprisonment and fine or whipping.

ISMA has claimed that the scuffle was caused by dishonest traders in the popular gadget mall, and that it was an angry response towards “diaspora chauvinists” who insulted and ridiculed Islam and the Malay community.

ISMA asserted that it is only natural for Malay youths to release their anger on the Chinese traders in the popular tech mall as the Malays are known for running amok, and they would not have done so if they were not provoked by what the Muslim group claimed to be chauvinists. MALAY MAIL ONLINE