LETTER | “Kenapa semua Cina”? These three words caricature the sad state of race relations in our country.

Over and above that, manhandling a group of students who were protesting silently against Najib Razak’s presence in University Malaya, is a violation of their freedom of speech, expression and assembly.

As if that was not enough, the thugs also harassed two Malaysiakini interns for reporting the truth about one of the protesters being held in a headlock.

This takes a whack at the freedom of the media.

So we, as a nation, have failed on all counts.

We have become a society that doesn’t give two hoots about democracy and its inherent principles.

Mix that with utter disrespect for the different races, and we have an explosive combo.

The provocateurs were nothing but hooligans. They were bully boys and possibly thugs who turned up to flex their muscles against a group of students, who were merely exercising their rights well within a democracy.

It’s also disturbing to see that the people who gathered around these bullies did nothing to stop the verbal and physical abuse.

Right to freedom of expression needs to be protected by all and this must be drummed into the thick skulls of Najib’s gangsters.

And they should also be warned to keep their hands off the media.

Such thuggery sends the wrong message, especially after the Christchurch terrorist attack.

If anything, it should have taught us to look at ourselves as one people as opposed to along racial or religious lines.

We need to respect our differences but it seems some of us prefer a culture of intimidation and fear for political survival and in this case, a political comeback.

Najib has been styling himself as the people’s leader following Pakatan Harapan’s thundering victory at the polls last year.

He has expressed regret over the incident but this is not enough.

Najib needs to send a strong warning to his supporters to stop the thuggery once and for all.

The writer is member of Parliament for Klang.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.