KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) is not keen to lodge a police report on an alleged racial slur by former PKR assemblyman Najwan Halimi which went viral recently.
Its deputy chairperson S. Arulchelvan said in a tweet that the party has other important tasks to do instead.
"Many people are asking PSM to lodge a police report against Najwan Halimi for his racist comment but we just don't want to burden the police who have so much other stuff to do.
"We also have other more important work to do like building a nation based on unity, respect and equality," he said today.
A screengrab of a WhatsApp group "KEADILAN" went viral with a message believed to be from the former Selangor PKR youth wing chief racially labelling a PSM's candidate who was named to contest in the upcoming Selangor election.
PSM's secretary-general A. Sivarajan said that his racial remark against the candidate exposes the hypocrisy of Pakatan Harapan.
Referring to the incident, Bangi member of parliament Syahredzan Johan said that a leader must lead by example and start by doing away with own prejudice to stop furthering problematic stereotypes.
"An expression may be meant as a 'joke', but we must be mindful that words and expressions have meanings.
"The meaning may differ depending on the history of a particular community.
"What we feel as 'harmless' may actually be harmful to others.
"What we say in jest, may actually reinforce years of marginalisation and discrimination to a particular community. Understanding this is the first step to acceptance," he said in his Twitter page.
The PKR man has since issued an apology and taken full responsibility over his comments, while pledging not to repeat the same offence again.
"I am not a racist and have prejudice against any race including Indians.
"I apologise to all parties who were offended and will be more careful in any statements issued in the future. I also hope that this issue can be resolved amicably and guarantee that it will not happen again in the future," he said in his Twitter page today.