SEPANG: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad does not want the controversy surrounding Indonesian football fans who have drawn the ire of Malaysians to drag on.
Dr Mahathir said that Malaysians should not follow in the footsteps of football fans from the neighbouring country apart from urging Malaysian football fans to be patient and practice tolerance.
"Well… we have to be a little bit tolerant,” said Dr Mahathir during the press conference after officiating the new floodlights for the Sepang International Circuit on Wednesday night.
"Well that is their way and our way is different. However, we must be tolerant when provoked by others, we cannot be so angry, just forget about it.”
Recently, Indonesian fans carried out provocations when the national Under-16 squad had to endure humiliating and degrading chants during the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Under-16 Championship at the Joko Samudro Stadium in Surabaya.
Even though the match played was between Malaysia and Thailand, Indonesian fans behaviour during the match was unruly as they chanted ‘Malaysia are dogs’ and also ‘Amirul is a dog’ during the match.