Minister: No place for extremist views

KUALA LUMPUR: Extremist views have no place in moderate Malaysia, said Umno supreme council member, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, today.
Abdul Rahman, who is also Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister, agreed that Isma's (Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia) views have no place in Malaysia.
However, he said Isma should not be singled out as there are many other organisations, which hold such views.
"Personally, I believe the extremist views of Isma or Perkasa or Dong Zhou or any other civil society aligned to the opposition have no place in moderate Malaysia," he told reporters after participating in the "Fire-fighters Day Run 2014" at Dataran Merdeka here.
"If you are confused of what Malaysia should be, go back and read the (Federal) Constitution. We are living under the shadow of the (Federal) Constitution," he added.
He believes the majority of Malaysians want political parties to be moderate.
"If you want absolute freedom of speech, then you should be prepared for very chaotic, noisy, messy and loud democratic voices. You can't have either one. If you want freedom of speech, then you have to be prepared for the consequences," said Abdul Rahman.
On Friday, Bernama reported former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as saying the statement by Isma president Abdullah Zaik Abd Rahman about the Chinese in the country can be termed as "seditious".
"He (Isma president) is not helping (to preserve) peace in this country. It (statement) is not going to do any good to anyone or the country.
"The Malaysian Chinese are citizens and they have rights in this country. We don't want people to start a racial riot. Therefore, Isma's statement is not constructive," Dr Mahathir had said.