vox populi small thumbnail 'Justice and democracy will not be cowed by racism and religious bigotry. There can be no shadow under the light.'

Arson suspected in Penang DAP headquarters fire

Artchan: Don't these people have brains? Setting fire to property is wrong. What if the fire spread to neighbouring houses, resulting in people trapped in burning houses?

Instead of arson, you will have death on your hand. Please think. This barbaric and violent action must be condemned by all. It doesn't matter what their political or religious affiliation is.

DannyLoHH: When there are no short supply of demagogues (the likes of Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali and more recently, senator Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor) openly issuing threats of arson, there will be dumb hotheads follow up with the deed.

When will the police start upholding rule of law and start putting irresponsible politicians that had publicly threaten violence and arson behind bars? Demagogues should not get away with crimes of inciting violence and arson.

Lim Chong Leong: Bigots. And where are the police after the first attack? They should have been on alert, but they were busy catching people with yellow T-shirts.

Anyway, we know who these people are. They are in fact burning themselves to the ground in the next GE. Justice and democracy will not be cowed by racism and religious bigotry. There can be no shadow in light.

Anonymous: What a shameful act. Whoever did it are cowards and really sick. At least, the rioters in UK did it in the open. Four years' jail for the British rioters means that the courts in UK are serious in upholding the law.

Can our law enforcers be as quick as their counterparts in UK? How can we ever achieve first world status if we allow such hooligans to get away with it.

Dingy: This should be a lesson to Ezam who threatened to burn Malaysiakini and Malaysian Insider . If the web portals' building was torched, then the chief suspect will be Ezam.

Ezam also threatened DAP before, so he should be the chief suspect. In fact, Ezam should be the chief suspect for any torching of opposition's buildings.

Moontime: I wonder how much were paid to these goons who did the job? Those 'gila talak' opposition parties in Penang are really desperate now that DAP has shown that they have the ability to govern with integrity, credibility and are people-oriented.

These cowardly acts must be stopped as DAP will not resort to tit-for-tat tactics, which is so childish and ungentlemanly. I have a simple message for Penang BN: Grow up!

Group burns copies of The Star in Penang

Think: The most Muslim thing to do is to give the people the benefit of the doubt. The Star editor may have made a genuine error and should be forgiven.

And even if not, still the most Muslim thing to do is to say, "It's okay, let's inform Star about the matter and help them understand why pigs should not be placed in the same section of Ramadan Delights."

Have a friendly meeting and solve the issue. Public burning of newspapers, demanding apology and behaving in a unruly manner no matter what the offence was is not a Muslim thing to do.

1M: It's a wake-up call for The Star . No matter how hard you try to please Umno-BN, they will remain a bully. Either you stand up and report freely without bias, or continue to be bullied by them like a helpless tortoise.

Ttloo: This is the seven month (Chinese calendar) where burning of papers and effigy of 'Tai Soo Ya' by devotees takes place for the whole month.

The group that burned the newspapers raises many questions whether they are joining in the celebration of the Hungry Ghost festival.

It is well-known during the month of Ramadan, Muslims are known to forgive and to refrain from any harsh behaviour.

Never mind the burning of papers, whether it is political, religious or not, the Muslim NGOs group have really attained the 1Malaysia spirit by burning papers. The road to 1Religion is paved.

Anonymous_5fb: Perbuatan keji dan sial di bulan suci Ramadan, siapa yang malu? Bagaimanapun, mengapa tidak tunjuk perasaan marah kamu pada Dr Chua Soi Lek juga?

Bukankah MCA yang memiliki The Star ? Saya ingat semua ini setakat 'lakonan' yang pengarahnya masing-masing termasuk MCA dan Umno. Apa lagi?

DannyLoHH: The burning of newspapers in public is allowed while candlelight vigils are banned by the police on public safety ground.

Can the police please explain why the blatant double standard? Is burning newspapers safer than lighting candles?

Changeagent: Perkasa, oh Perkasa. It is not as if many of your members ever do read The Star . Stick to Utusan Malaysia if you want the 'sensitive' and 'non-offensive' articles. Leave the offensive materials for the minorities to read.

David Dass: I do not read The Star , but it seems to me that the mistake was a careless and stupid one. They have apologised and they have suspended the Supplements editor. Is that not enough? They still want their pound of flesh?

The government should provide the leadership on this issue rather then drag this out. It seems that every issue that is deemed to be sensitive ‘to the majority' (as Perkasa often tells as if the minority deserve less consideration) is dragged out and milked for as much political mileage as can be obtained without regard for the damage it causes to race relations.

There is so little regard for the feelings of the Hindus over the cow-head stomping incident. So little was done when the sacred hosts of the Catholic mass was desecrated by Muslim journalists.

But we allow feelings to be stoked up over an incident that was clearly the result of carelessness and foolishness, rather then the deliberate disregard of the feelings of Muslims. Where are we taking this nation?

Dzulkefly Ahmad: Utusan Malaysia write false stories and get away with it easily. The Star made an error and apologised twice, but Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein is still not happy.

 

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