Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor

Earlier in December 2020, Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor announced the Kedah state government has awarded a Kuala Lumpur-based company a permit to prospect and extract rare earth elements purportedly worth RM 43 Trillion. Upon further investigation, it is cleared that the rare earth element deposits was only estimated RM 62 Billion and not the amount he claimed to be.[6][7] There is also claims saying that Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor are intentionally courting controversies and being provocative to draw attention away from the "43 Trillion Mineral Deposit discovery in Kedah" claims.[8]

Topping the claims, Muhammad Sanusi has been called out in the local press and media channels for his derogatory statements against the minority communities linking with being drunkards. He purportedly commented on the opposition member not to be drunk on toddy in his speeches. This stirred the emotions of the minorities and caused a lot of bashes and calls for him to apologize publicly.[9][10] Following the remarks, Sanusi avoided from apologizing and continued to offend more by calling for ban on the Malaysian Indian Congress Party (MIC) which caused the chairman of MIC, Tan Sri Vigneswaran to call him an ignorant MB.[11][12]

The photo showing the press conference organized by the Hindu NGO Coalition requesting the minister to apologize for his statement and stop temple demolition works immediately.

Muhammad Sanusi will also be remembered for inciting the demolishment of the temples despite the call for stop from the Indian community. It became nationwide issue as the act has induced many political leaders, religious leaders and NGO representatives to voice out calling him being insensitive towards the sensitivity of the religion followers.[13][14][15] There was a speculations raised that Sanusi did everything in clear mindsight only to avoid being in the limelight of the past claims he made regarding the 43 Trillion Ringgit Mineral Deposit scandal. The Malay Mail newspaper highlighted that he has chosen to divert the attention to a much more sensitive topics such as religious beliefs.[16] Some did also came out to support Sanusi's act on the demolishing of the hindu temples.[17][18] The Coalitions of Hindu NGOs has requested him to stop the demolishing and apologize else to bring the matter to the attention of the Palace through a reactive press conference.[19][20] Through the press conference, the coalition representatives requested Sanusi to guarantee that the demolishments will no more take place which Sanusi on reacted saying everything is happening under the purview of law.[21] Taking part in the press conference, was the Malaysian Head, Global Hindu Federation, Dato' Pardip Kumar Kukreja, Chairman of MAHA. V.Kandasamy, Malaysia Hindu Dharma Mamandram (MHDM) president A. Radhakrishnan, R.Naraesh Pillai, Rajaratnam. Meanwhile, the Chairman of United Malaysian Hindu Voice (UMHV) Navindran Palasendaram[22] urged the government to be more proactive and remain sensitive and prepare an ecosystem to secure to the rights of the Hindu community in Malaysia. He also added that UMHV is also prepared to work for a permanent solution for the issues faced by the Hindu temples and communities hands on with the government.[22]

During a press conference of Malaysian football club Kedah FA, Muhammad Sanusi acting as the president of the club made racial remarks of its foreign players, by referring to them as 'awang hitam' which translates as 'black criminal', also a term used by certain dailies to identify African criminals.[23]

On 21 January 2021, Sanusi said the Thaipusam festival would not be marked as a public holiday since there is no celebration of the annual festival for the year. Given the spike in Covid-19 cases, there will also be no celebration for Chinese New Year, and all public gatherings will be barred. He said the state would allow state assemblyman service centres to operate via drive-through services for the people in their respective constituencies. However, only one-third of devotees will be allowed to pray at temples during the festival. [24]

The MCA has also described Sanusi's decision as illogical and disrespectful of the country's minorities' rights. The MIC deputy president Datuk Seri M. Saravanan said the decision sends a negative signal about PAS to all minorities in the country. "He has planted the seed of fear in the minds of all minorities," said Vell Paari. The former MIC secretary-general said PAS central leadership tried its best to portray the party as being inclusive. He also criticised PAS for saying that MIC did not support PAS during the 14th General Election (GE14) in 2018. He reminded Sanusi that during GE14, PAS was not a component of the Barisan Nasional.[25]