The Low Yat Plaza incident should serve as a reminder that ordinary citizens are only learning from some of the country’s political or community leaders who fall back on race and religion either to push for their personal agendas or justify their wrongdoings.

Centre For A Better Tomorrow (CENBET) co-president Gan Ping Sieu said in a statement Monday when people in power or influence play the racial and religious card, their followers would naturally follow suit.

“Both need to be punished, either by law or voting them out.

“We are particularly troubled to note that a simple alleged theft or sale of goods could end up as a racially-charged affair which touched on our collective raw nerves during the holy month of Ramadan.

"It also demonstrates how fragile our society has become, a few weeks shy of our 58th Independence anniversary," said Gan.

It also called on the police and prosecutors to exercise an even higher degree of professionalism that should be free of racial or political considerations.

“Those who hurt another person; crossed the line in performing citizens' arrest; damaged property or spewed racial hatred need to have the book thrown at them, regardless of their backgrounds.

“Professional conduct on the part of the police and prosecutors would help lower the political temperature, raised unnecessarily by the racially-toned comments on the incident that spread across social media over the past several hours,” he said.

Gan added, the authorities must swiftly arrest and charge those who committed violence at Low Yat Plaza before a localised brawl degenerated into heightened racial tension across the country.