BUKIT TINGGI: MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Ling Liong Sik said the fundamental rights and freedom of Malaysians remains the same despite the recent statement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad that Malaysia is an Islamic country. He said Malaysians were still free to practice their respective religion and culture as before.
Likening the country to a rose, Dr Ling said the various races of the country had different names for it.
“The Malays call it bunga mawar, the Chinese mei kwei, and the Indians roja, but everyone knows what it is,’’ he said when closing a seminar at the Selesa Hill Homes and Golf Resort here yesterday.
Dr Ling however, said nobody knows about the PAS’ concept of an Islamic country.
He said the self-styled Islamic party did not dare to put down in black and white what it meant by an Islamic country because it knows the people would reject it.
“They are afraid the people will reject it,’’ he said.
He said PAS was an extremist party and it wanted to run the country similar to how the Talibans ran Afghanistan.
He said it was undeniable that most members of the KMM extremist group were PAS members or supporters.
Dr Ling also said the Government had been proven right once again by not repealing the Internal Security Act (ISA).
He said it was unfortunate it took a terrorist attack on America to make people realise the importance of such laws.
“They criticised us but now countries like the US, Britain and France have similar laws (like the ISA),” he said.