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Malaysia's citizens must exercise caution not to turn disputes between relatives into a controversy related to ethnicity or religion, simply by observing a video shared on social media, warns lawyer Sahain Nada Puthucheary. The lawyer highlighted that videos posted online often only capture a portion of an event, leaving viewers with an incomplete understanding of what transpired.

"When something is posted online, many contextual details are lost, and people only see a fragment of the problem on their smartphones," he said at the 2026 Malaysian Community Muslim Forum in the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Puthucheary emphasized that people should first consider whether an incident is genuinely ethnic or religious in nature or merely a misunderstanding between individuals.

According to him, disputes between relatives should not be turned into an ethnic or religious issue because those involved have different backgrounds. "Since I argued with a Chinese relative who owns a dog, it doesn't mean I argue with all Chinese people. I believe we are too quick to turn something into an ethnic issue," he stated.

Puthucheary advised that disputes between relatives should be resolved before they escalate further. He noted that many issues in the country often become exaggerated beyond the actual situation due to individuals seeking to gain from turning them into religious or ethnic issues. "We need to strive to oppose such things. Let disputes between relatives be resolved between them alone," he concluded.