The "long" period of peace and harmony in the country had led to a “lackadaisical” attitude towards the threat of extremism among Malaysians.

Saying in a speech today, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Joseph Kurup said that this has caused an upsurge of extremist views which is undermining racial and religious ties in the country.

"Religious bigotries are in our news every single day. Group or individuals had outrageously called for Bibles to be burned, dragging cow’s head or insulting the Holy month of Ramadhan.

"What is wrong with us today? How is such a monstrous, bizarre act by self-proclaimed race and religious champions and hypocritically playing the God card to justify their spiritual arrogance is even comprehensible?

 

"From a historically tolerant multi-faith country, we in the span of 50 years of our nationhood are witnessing dramatic deterioration in our culture of moderation with a dramatic surge in intolerance and religious triumphalism."

He said this in a speech celebrating the United Nations Day for Tolerance at the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology today.

'Politically incorect to be moderate'

The minister said that the country is moving in the opposite direction when being moderate is "politically incorrect today".

However, Kurup said that he remains optimistic for the future of the country and called on the "silent majority" to "drown out the extremists."

 

"I see there's still hope in Malaysia as I saw many- the silent majority- out there who stand up to do the right thing to protect the rights of the minorities."

 

He called on the silent majority to be moderates who are "bridge builders" between different communities.

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