Groups try to prolong clashes amid new attacks in Malaysia

Groups try to prolong clashes amid new attacks in Malaysia

SHAH ADAM, Malaysia (Agencies): Malaysian police on Thursday
said unknown groups of attackers were attempting to prolong
recent ethnic violence in the wake of four fresh attacks on
minority Indians.

"There are certain people who want this to drag on and to
create instability in the country," Selangor state police chief
Nik Ismail Nik Yusuf told reporters.
"They do not do anything for a day or two -- when there is a lull
they hit again."

Nik Ismail said police did not know the attackers' identity or
whether they were locals or foreigners.

In the latest violence, Nik Ismail said four Indians were
attacked in separate incidents over a two-hour period early
Wednesday by Malays armed with baseball bats and machetes near
Kampung Medan, a poor area in Petaling Jaya town, west of Kuala
Lumpur.

The first victim was cycling when he was set on by two Malays
on a motorcycle, who later slashed two more victims walking on
the same road.

The fourth victim was assailed by five Malay youths armed with
baseball bats, the police chief said, adding all victims were in
a stable condition.

Police said Thursday they are questioning four people who sent
or received Internet e-mails which appeared aimed at inciting
racial violence, as fresh attacks on four people raised fears
that Malaysia's worst ethnic violence in three decades is not
ended.

Nik Ismail said police had tracked down a man who sent e-mails
which urged the receivers to attack ethnic Indians, and warning
that ethnic Malays were in danger of being attacked by gangs of
Indians in an area on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.

Lim Kit Siang, chairman of the opposition Democratic Action
Party urged Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to visit the affected
area to restore inter-communal peace following "the worst clashes
in the country in 32 years."

"The government has failed to convey the message that it is
serious and capable of sustaining a socio-economic and law and
order infrastructure," he said in a statement.

Lim said every single renewed attack "undermines national
stability and jeopardizes Malaysia's reputation as a safe
destination of investment."

Police earlier said 1,000 police personnel had been deployed
to patrol the troubled areas.

Nik Ismail said 314 people had been arrested since the clashes
broke out March 8 between Indians and Malays, with 77 charged for
offenses including possessing dangerous weapons and illegal
gathering.

Five Indians and an Indonesian were killed during four days of
violence that broke out March 8 in Kampung Medan.

Opposition parties and non-governmental organizations have
called for an independent inquiry into the causes of the clashes.

Activists of Malaysia's ruling party urged police on Thursday
to investigate what they called the malicious coverage by five
foreign news organizations of recent racial violence.

The youth wing of the United Malays National Organization
(UMNO) cited two international news agencies, Agence France Press
and Associated Press, and three foreign newspapers, the
International Herald Tribune, the South China Morning Post and
the Times of the U.K. in a report to the police.

Local newspapers have criticized some reporting by the foreign
media which reporting that more people died in the clashes than
was in fact the case.

In another development, Malaysia's figurehead rulers have
permitted the country's main opposition party to retain the word
"Islam" in its name despite a demand from Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad's party that it be dropped.

The Conference of Rulers, which groups Malaysia's
constitutional monarchs and state governors, took the decision at
a meeting on Thursday attended by Mahathir, the official Bernama
news agency said.

Political analysts saw the move as largely appeasing the Parti
Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), which is challenging Mahathir's UMNO for
the support of the country's Muslim Malay majority.