YOURSAY | ‘All these rumour-mongers must be arrested and thrown into jail.’

Fact-check: Old Town White Coffee owned by Dutch firm, not Nga

Vijay47: I am not digressing. Usually, when I write about you, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, I do not mince my words and I speak my uncomplimentary mind.

But yesterday, in respect of your call to “Focus on big issues, not squabble over bak kut teh and canteens”, I thought I would, for a change, support you and look at the glass half-full.

Of course, agile minds might wonder what this comment has to do with the issue of (Ipoh) Old Town Coffee. No, not even to Tambun.

Your constant journeys around the world carry a two-edged sword - sure, they are most necessary if intended to attract foreign investors; let us see what emerges from the rosy promises.

However, the frequency and duration of these travels abroad could also suggest that our economic prognosis shows dire possibilities.

So, don’t squabble over bak kut teh and canteens, you say? Focus on the “big issues”? Perhaps.

But the envelope is being pushed further, the bar raised higher. One of these days both will collapse in an explosion of fire.

Almost every day, issues of race and religion are being raised by, yes, Malay-Muslim fanatics, especially, yes again, from your band of Madani brothers.

These issues include bak kut teh and canteens and if allowed to simmer and boil over, we will soon have that terrible explosion of fire. What are you doing about them?

The latest is how fake ownership of a coffee company has been twisted to take on incendiary religious colours.

Every single everyday issue spiced with blatant lies is magnified into a matter of national gravity, accompanied by the inevitable cry of “Islam and the Malays are again under attack”.

I will not deign to mention the police. What are you doing about them?

You could argue that these are bak kut teh and the canteens' work of opportunist politicians and not to be viewed seriously. Not so easy, Anwar.

The primary cause and fault are with yourself and not with our stars. Your inaction against such dangerous activity only encourages them.

Aristo: Spreading these rumours and calling for boycotts is going to get the country's economy into a tailspin unless something is done quickly.

All these rumour-mongers must be arrested and thrown into jail.

The public must be educated to not believe in these rumours and get sucked up by these people who are out to destroy the country.

Bobby0: While leaders of other nations are finding ways to move forward and improve the living conditions of their people, the leaders here are more interested in playing political games, using race and religion as their strategy.

These leaders are bankrupt in terms of ideas on how we can move the nation forward and instead are trying to destroy the nation's economy.

By attacking these business institutions using flimsy reasons or even spitting out false accusations, they do not realise that foreign investors or even local investors will start worrying about the uncertainty of the political situation here.

The fear that this nation may embrace religious extremism is real.

Koel: Thank you for highlighting the stupidity of some people. The only thing they seem good at is "street goons" type fights to stir up some racial and religious sentiments.

When a party has to depend on emotions to win elections, you can be quite sure that it lacks intelligence, rationality, expertise and capability to lead a country.

Why would anyone with half a brain want such a party at the helm of a young, developing nation?

So far, it looks like playing up racial and religious sentiments while indulging in heavy-duty, and high-level corruption are the only skills of this party.

It is even possible that these were the only skills developed and exercised for decades now in the party.

Just a Malaysian: Let's see if some Islamist or rightist will call for a boycott of Old Town White Coffee.

See if they are stupid enough to send a signal to foreign investors why they should not put money into this country.

Then, with the sliding ringgit, the B40s and M40 will suffer more. It would be the epitome of Malaysian stupidity. The Singaporeans are already having a good laugh at our antics.

JWKK: Why am I not shocked? This kind of despicable behaviour, predictably, started from the top, back with former agriculture and agro-based industry minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who later became the prime minister.

Now, the unthinking and ignorant bigots have taken whatever they have come across online, and blinded by their bigotry, easily accept what is long-established to be fake as truth.

Pathetic does not begin to describe their sorry, despicable attitude.

They keep blaming the non-Malays, including the vernacular schools, for encroaching on their religion and disuniting the country.

Meanwhile, Anwar's Madani government acts like nothing is wrong.

EyeInTheSky2024: That is why our country will never progress. One boycott after another and people will suffer from loss of employment.

Then wait for handouts and subsidies and also revert to drastic measures like criminal acts. We are on the way to being slotted at the tail end in the third-word country category.

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