KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah on Wednesday (Jan 8) reminded Malaysians that their cultural diversity is to be celebrated instead of letting it divide them.

Mr Saifuddin took to Twitter in response to a Malay party official’s claim on Tuesday that a public school in Puchong, Selangor had gone overboard with decorations for the upcoming Chinese New Year, purportedly in an attempt to convert its Muslim students.

“Among Malaysia’s strengths is its people — diverse in race, culture and religion, living in peace and harmony. This needs to be strengthened in the spirit of peaceful coexistence.

“CNY has nothing to do with religion. We have celebrated together for decades. This tradition must continue,” Mr Saifuddin tweeted this morning.

The cultural festival is a two-day public holiday in Malaysia, where roughly 30 per cent of its population is ethnically Chinese. This year, Chinese New Year falls on Jan 25 and 26.

The Pakatan Harapan minister’s call for unity follows growing unease in multireligious, multi-ethnic Malaysia with the communal politicisation of various issues. These issues, ranging from education to job opportunities, have dogged the country despite the change in government.

On Tuesday, lawyer Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz — who is also vice-president of the fledgling Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia — threatened to file a police report against SMK Pusat Bandar Puchong 1 in Pusat Bandar Puchong for its “religious” Chinese New Year decorations.

The lawyer claimed that the decorations are “unconstitutional”. He further claimed that Muslim parents had complained about the decorations, which they saw as an attempt to propagate a non-Islam religion to students.

Mr Khairul later claimed the school principal, Ms Rohani Mohd Noor, promised in an email reply to take down all the Chinese New Year decorations.

Malay Mail has not been able to independently verify the authenticity of Mr Khairul’s assertions with the school at the time of writing. MALAY MAIL