Behave yourselves, politicians!

Instead of letting tempers fly and hitting out at each other, political leaders should behave themselves and set a good example to their supporters and followers.

Voices of Peace, Conscience and Reason president Datin Halimah Mohd Said said this following escalating incidents of political violence such burning party flags and scuffles ahead of the 13th General Election.

Halimah opined that the growing level of aggression and inter-party rivalry is unwelcomed, sad and frightening.

“If our people behave this way even after going through 12 elections, we are only regressing and going backwards when it comes to political maturity.

“The responsibility to cool down the temper lies with the leaders. Stop hitting at each other. From now onwards, only say positive things so that your supporters will follow suit,” she told Astro Awani.

Halimah warned that failure to do so would spark another May 13 riot.

However, the Head of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak's Political and International Relations Department Dr Faisal Hazis begs to differ.

While Faisal agrees that cool heads have to prevail in the run up to the much anticipated polling day, he thinks that comparing it to the May 13 incident is a little too far fetched.

“I want to debunk the idea that the current political violence would spark another May 13 incident. This political violence is only caused by the minority people within the community. The majority still values peace,” he said.

Faisal said the animosity happens because of the extremists within each party.

“What is important is the majority of people must uphold peace and ignore the provocation instigated by both sides of the political divide.

“The authority also needs to be firm when taking action on the troublemakers. They should do so regardless of their political inclinations,” he said.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in his Parliament dissolution speech had also called the people to give their commitment to maintain the integrity of the democratic process .

It was reported that to date, the police have received 108 reports nationwide on political violence cases since Parliament was dissolved for the 13th general election on April 3.

Among the latest cases was the arrest of a man in Shah Alam on Monday for allegedly burning five Barisan Nasional banners.