A religious preacher has demanded the Malaysian government to issue a nationwide ban on the Chinese language which has caused an outrage among netizens.
According to a video posted on Facebook last Friday (3rd January), Ustaz Abu Syafiq Al-Asy’ary made a call to abolish all Chinese characters from every single place one can find them.
Source: Facebook
“Here is a suggestion for all Malaysians. We will eradicate all Chinese characters,” he said in his video, which was uploaded to his Facebook page with more than 180,000 followers.
“The country must eliminate and remove all items printed with Chinese characters, including billboards, newspapers, textbooks, or novels.”
“We must immediately ban, eliminate, and haramkan (forbid) all Chinese words, leaving no trace behind.”
“In Malaysia we have the Malay language, we have our national language. Chinese is not our national language and Chinese is not a language that is meant to be used by Malaysians.”
The video got the attention of Gerakan president, Dr Dominic Lau, who said that his party will be making a police report against Abu Syafiq.
He said that the Ustaz’s remark had not only hurt the feelings of the Chinese community, but also undermined national unity, reported Cincai News – Malay Mail’s Chinese-language news portal.
Source: Cincai News
He added that even Saudi Arabia has incorporated Chinese into its education system and that cities in Europe, America, and Indonesia have signboards written in Chinese.
“So we have to deal with the behavior and behavior of the extremists involved.”
“We can also see signs with Chinese characters on the roads in some European and American cities, and even neighboring Indonesia has Chinese signs.”
“So, from the mouth of that Islamic preacher, how could it be said that all Chinese characters should be banned?”
“I must emphasise that Malaysia is a country with multiple races, cultures and religions. We can defend the rights of each race, religion and culture, but we cannot influence other races and religions.”
Here’s the full video:
What a thing to say! Surely this does not promote unity among Malaysians.
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