Malay Sikhs refuse to back down on Bengali identity' comment

Kuala Lumpur, Apr.15 : Sikhs based in Malaysia have refused to back down over the issue of being referred to as Bengalis, saying the fact that a government minister had made the comment, had made the Sikh community a laughing stock in Malay society.

Rejecting DAP Chairman Karpal Singh's plea that Perak Minister Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin had referred to the Sikhs as Bengalis in ignorance, Khalsa Dharmic Jatha Gurdwara vice-president Baljit Singh said: "That very utterance has made the Sikhs a laughing stock of other communities. How can we expect society to know the difference between the two communities when the leaders themselves cannot?"

Nizar, who made the reference at a PAS function in Ipoh on Sunday, has been asked to tender a public apology for his mistake.

ANI