Don’t turn neighbourhood disputes into racial issues, says lawyer

Sahain Nada Puthucheary, a lawyer, cautioned Malaysians against misinterpreting neighbourhood disputes as racial or religious controversies based on social media videos during a forum in Kuala Lumpur. He pointed out that online videos often only capture a small portion of an incident, removing important context, and transforming the situation into a one-dimensional image.

Puthucheary urged people to first assess whether an issue was genuinely racial or simply a disagreement between individuals before jumping to conclusions. He emphasized that ordinary neighbourly conflicts should not be automatically categorized as racial or religious problems, as individuals from different backgrounds may be involved.

Puthucheary further advised against hastily labeling such disputes as racial or religious, as this tendency often escalates the situation. Instead, he suggested that Malaysians should actively work to resolve neighbourly issues without resorting to racial or religious divisions.