Malaysian govt. has “zero tolerance” towards racial remarks, culprits will be punished: PM

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian Prime Minister Mohammed Najib Tun Razak has warned that his government has “zero tolerance” against people who make racial remarks or fuel racism in the country, and it would not hesitate to take action against such culprits.

“We are aware of some SMSes that have been going around, in which the content is not accurate and is intended to raise racial sentiments,” The Star quoted Razak, as saying.

Najib emphasised that action would be taken against those who make unlawful racial remarks and also against those who vandalised places of worship such as churches or surau.

“The Government has zero tolerance for racist remarks by anyone. Our stand is not to tolerate racist remarks by anyone. Unity is very important as part of our nation building,” he added.

Najib said civil servants also play an important role in preventing racism and they must be educated well not to make insensitive remarks that could stroke racial sentiments.

Referring to the recent racial remarks made by two school principals, he said the incident could have been avoided, and added that: “We must educate civil servants to understand and appreciate the 1Malaysia concept. Given time, the majority of them will be on board with the 1Malaysia concept. But action will be taken against those who make racist remarks.”

The premier also agreed to an idea mooted by participants in a Youth Lab to set up a special Malaysia Fund to support youth programmes that foster inter-racial relationships.

He promised to personally look into conceptualising the idea soon through a proper mechanism. (ANI)

|US lawmaker demands reversal of embryonic stem cell research ban|World[ New York {New York, Aug 28 (ANI): A member of the US Congress Steve Israel has challenged his colleagues to pass legislation to reverse a recent federal court decision that brought embryonic stem cell research in the country to a screeching halt.

Israel was backed by Dr. Bruce Stillman, a renowned cancer researcher and President of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Israel said the August 23 decision by Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, “sets back research, sets back patients, and sets back jobs,” on Long Island and across the nation.

He said the decision, which prevents federally funded research from being conducted on any embryonic stem cells derived from human embryos, “has not only rolled back the Obama policy on stem cells, but has actually rolled back the Bush policy.”

Israel said he regards the legal appeals process too slow, and added, “I don’t think we should wait for an appeal, we’ve got to act, and act fast.”

Congress has twice in the past decade passed bills giving the go-ahead for embryonic stem cell research.

“The Judge said Congress created the policy, and only Congress can revisit it.”

Israel has said that he plans to take up the matter in Washington on September 14, during the session of the House.

If passed by the Senate, such a bill would be almost certain to receive a presidential signature, thus ending any ambiguity about the will of Congress,” Israel said. (ANI)