Pertubuhan Pemikir Agenda Watan Malaysia (Pemikir) said local government elections championed by DAP can led to the occurrence of widespread racial disunity in the country.

Pemikir president Abdul Aziz Mohd Yassin said based on the attitude of DAP, which was extremely eager to implement the proposal all this while,  Pemikir questioned the real motive behind it.

"They claimed the move is to nurture democracy but if it is studied indepth, the move is undemocratic based on today's voting trend.

"In fact it is not impossible that following such elections, racial disunity will be even more significant when polling areas do not have various races and instead are dominated by only a certain race," Abdul Aziz said in a statement today.

As such, he said Pemikir fully supported the stance of PAS to reject the proposal of its alliance, DAP to hold local government elections.

"We agree with the views of Abdul Hadi Awang that there is a strong possibility such elections can cause an unstable atmosphere and widen the racial gap in urban areas," Abdul Aziz said when alluding to the PAS president's media statement that was reported today.

According to the Pemikir president, local government elections could lead to minority groups not being represented in any polling areas and, subsequently, in the local government.

"If minority groups are not represented, that is also not democratic. This is not only unhealthy for a multi-racial country like Malaysia but will also worsen the racial relationships in recent times is very worrying," he said.

In due course, he said, it would create tensions and, most likely, communal clashes that harmed all parties.

Pemikir is a non-governmental organisation with membership from imminent persons, including former judges, former ministers, former chief secretary to the government and senior government retirees.

- Bernama