Ethnic Indian Muslims should disassociate from India : Mahatir

Kuala Lumpur, Dec 24 (PTI) Ethnic Indian Muslims in
Malaysia should disassociate themselves from their country of
origin, says the country's former PM Mahathir Mohammad, who
himself is of Indian ethnicity.
Mahathir, who was the premier of the country for 22
years, said certain Muslim converts faced problems in society
because of their reluctance to speak Malay, the national
language spoken by the majority Malay population here.
A large number of Indian Muslims continue to speak in
their native Tamil language.
According to Mahathir the discrimination against Indian
Muslims was because of their widespread use of their mother
tongue, the New Straits Times said.
"The aspirations of the 1 Malaysia concept will not be
met if Indian Muslim do not embrace the culture of Malays and
opt to converse only in their languages as well as practise
their own culture," he said.
Malaysia is a multi cultural, multi religious country
with the majority Malays being muslims.
Mahathir felt that it was upto the ethnic Indian Muslims
here to drop the "Indian" prefix.
"The choice is entirely in their hands," the paper quoted
him as saying.
He added that the Malays were the only race defined under
the country's Constitution to have certain special privileges.
PTI