Pressure is mounting on de facto national unity minister P Waythamoorthy to resign, with a PKR leader taking up the call following the death of firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim.
Penang exco Afif Bahardin said Waythamoorthy had failed to promote unity.
“The honourable thing for you to do is resign and step aside…you have failed tremendously to forge unity when it is needed and caused disharmony.
“There are better Malaysians who can assume the mantle,” Afif said in a tweet in which he tagged Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Meanwhile, Bersatu Youth national security bureau chief Mahathir Mohd Rais said that the Hindraf president should resign from cabinet.
“Yes, we are united, but if unity that was supposed to be your priority and portfolio is being made secondary, history could repeat itself and we will sink just like those before us.
“Being apologetic is a gesture that is well appreciated by public, and so is resignation,” Mahathir said in a statement.
PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan had also called for Waythamoorthy’s resignation earlier today.
In a statement this afternoon, he said government leaders who had worsened the situation must accept responsibility for the riot and Adib’s death.
“Therefore, PAS demands that Waythamoorthy accepts full ‘social and moral’ responsibility and resigns with immediate effect.
Takiyuddin also accused the minister of being unprofessional by “lying” that the police failed to control the situation at the material time.
“What more when the information provided by him regarding the police’s action contradicted the facts provided by the home minister when explaining the tragedy in the Dewan Rakyat on Nov 29.
“Therefore, PAS once again urges him to resign and the government can replace him with a more credible Indian leader to fulfil the aim of fostering unity among the races,” he added.
‘Stern action’
Earlier, Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki had urged attorney-general Tommy Thomas to take stern action against four ministers, including Waythamoorthy, along with Selangor exco V Ganabatirau.
He claimed the statements by the five had led to thousands of Indians gathering at the temple which later saw a riot erupt.
The other ministers were Communication and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo, Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran and Land, Water and Natural Resources Minister Xavier Jayakumar.
Adib had succumbed to his injuries at the National Heart Institute (IJN) in Kuala Lumpur last night.
The 24-year old firefighter was part of the Fire and Rescue Department team deployed in response to vehicles being torched by rioters outside the temple on Nov 27.
According to the police, he was dragged out of the vehicle and assaulted. – Malaysiakini