SHAH ALAM, Sept 15 — Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s women’s wing has condemned in the strongest terms an offensive and derogatory ‘joke’ by an Umno leader involving a Catholic priest and nun, and called for an immediate police investigation.
In a statement, Keadilan Wanita secretary Sangetha Jayakumar said the remarks were not a slip of the tongue but a deliberate and disrespectful insult to the Catholic community that had outraged right-thinking Malaysians.
“We urge the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) to launch a swift and thorough investigation into this incident. Public insults against any religion must be met with zero tolerance and strict legal consequences,” she said today.
Sangetha said Keadilan Wanita also demanded that the Umno leadership hold the delegate accountable by taking disciplinary action against him and issuing an unreserved public apology to the Catholic community.
“Silence or inaction is complicity,” she said.
During the recently concluded Umno general assembly, the party’s Sepang division chief Noorazli Said made a lewd joke involving a priest and a nun, with a punchline that he attributed to Psalm 129 in the Bible but which is not contained in the chapter.
The Catholic Lawyers’ Society of Kuala Lumpur (CLS) has said it would lodge a police report over the matter.
Sangetha said the incident exposed deeper systemic problems, claiming that certain factions within Umno remained entrenched in outdated racial and religious politics and were increasingly disconnected from reality.
“While everyday Malaysians are working hard to put food on the table and build a prosperous nation, these delegates prove they are intellectually bankrupt.
“Instead of debating policies for Malaysia’s economic development, technological growth or social welfare, they resort to cheap, inflammatory religious baiting to mask their lack of substance.
“They are stuck in a regressive loop, entirely blind to the fact that Malaysia’s precious diversity is our greatest economic and social asset, not a punching bag for political mileage.”
Sangetha said the peaceful coexistence of Malaysia’s multiracial and multi-religious society should not be trivialised for cheap political laughs.
“Keadilan Wanita stands firmly with all Malaysians in protecting the respect, peace and unity that define us. It is time to leave toxic race politics in the dust and focus on the real work of building a progressive, developed Malaysia.”
