The warong visits at Pasir Puteh, Ketereh and Machang proved me right that ordinary Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese or Indians, want harmony, tolerance, goodwill, solidarity and unity and not lies, distrust, suspicion, hatred and extremism

My three-day “Jelajah Raya di Panti Timor” in Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan have vindicated me and confirmed what I had always believed – that the lies and falsehoods which form the core of the UMNO demonisation campaign against me and DAP leaders, painting us as anti-Malay and anti-Islam, do not have any traction with the majority of Malays and Muslims, as they are not so stupid and irrational as to succumb to the lies, fake news and false information pumped out by the UMNO propaganda mills of lies and falsehoods.

During my “Jelajah Raya di Pantai Timur”, I visited the warongs in Pasir Puteh, Ketereh and Machang, and the ordinary Malays I met at these warongs have only friendliness , goodwill and kindness for the visiting DAP group.

There was not a single trace of suspicion, distrust, hate or malice which would not be the case if the vicious and long-standing black propaganda of UMNO to paint me as quite a devil, a puaka, even jembalang; that I am anti-Malay, anti-Islam; cause of May 13, 1969 riots; a communist; a stooge of foreign powers; that I dominate Pakatan Harapan and made other leaders like Tun Mahathir Mohamad, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Datuk Seri Wan Azizah, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, Mohamad Sabu and Husam Musa into my stooges and puppets, have credibility and are believed to be true by ordinary Malays and Muslims in the country.

In fact, my warong visits and “Jelajah Raya di Pantai Timur” have vindicated and fortified my belief that ordinary Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans, whether Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus or Sikhs do not want or support extremism in whatever form.

Extremism of whatever form must not be allowed to rear their ugly heads in plural Malaysia or the strength and asset of Malaysia’s diversity of races, religions, languages and cultures would become our fatal weaknesses and liability to divide and tear the nation asunder.

This is particularly important especially as extremist forces in our society are seeking to establish a beach-head in our society.

It has been reported that the Iraqi forces had achieved a huge symbolic victory against the terrorist group, Islamic State (IS) when it captured the 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri Mosque in Mosul, from where the Islamic State proclaimed its self-styled caliphate three years ago and had served as the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Iraq.

But one result of IS’ setbacks in the Middle East and its being squeezed out of Iraq and Syria is its intensification to seek new ground with the set-up of Islamic State of East Asia covering Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar and Japan.

For quite some time, terrorism experts have warned of increasing Malaysian presence and participation in Islamic State terrorist activities, especially the month-long battle for the city of Marawi on Mindanao island in the southern Philippines.

Former Malaysian university lecturer Dr Mahmud Ahmad, described as “an extremely good bomb-maker” is believed to be one of the Islamic State kingpins in the Philippines.

A news agency recently reported that Mahmud was wounded in battle and died of his wounds on June 7, but the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar on June 25 quashed the death rumours, due to information he received which revealed that Mahmud is alive and may have escaped a Philippines army dragnet on Islamic State forces in Marawi City and fled Marawi with Isnilon Hapilon, who is believed to be the head of IS in Southeast Asia.

Hapilon was previously the leader of Abu Sayyaf, a militant group based in Mindanao that was active in kidnapping.

Malaysia does not want to see the senseless bombings and killings in London, Manchester, Paris, Jakarta, Philippines and Teheran happen in Malaysia, and this is why all moderate Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, must strengthen national resilience, goodwill and solidarity in plural Malaysia by taking an uncompromising stand against all forms of intolerance, extremism and fanaticism in Malaysia.

Recent incidents of intolerance, extremism and intolerance include the demand that non-Muslims should not participate in breaking-of-fast events; the thuggish incident in Kluang where the DAP MP for the area, Liew Chin Tong, was roughed up during his visit of goodwill and solidarity to the Kluang Bazaar Ramadan; the escalation of the politics of lies, falsehoods, hate, bigotry and intolerance; and most recently, the shocking statement by the UMNO propagandists and cybertroopers that US Department of Justice (DOJ) kleptocratic action to forfeit US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets as a result of an international 1MDB money-laundering scandal was “part of a conspiracy to meddle in Malaysia’s affairs because the country had a Muslim-led government”.

Malaysia must set an example of moderation to the world – as we must not preach the wasatiyyah principles of the moderation, justice, balance and excellence in international platforms but fail to spread the same message among our people in the country.

Malaysia can only survive and prosper as an united, harmonious, democratic, progressive and prosperous nation if Malaysians develop a zero tolerance for extremism or fanaticism of whatever form.