Zaid said charging a person like Teo would have a significant backlash.

“How does that help race relations in the country?” he asked in a post on X today.

“Do we need to rush to the police station whenever one community feels aggrieved by what the other says?

“We should rush to the town hall and assemble the community leaders, and we should talk to one another. We should ask whether such sentiments are indeed prevalent and the circumstances under which they were said.”

Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail recently said that Teo was being investigated following his statement about the vernacular school system.

Saifuddin said Teo was under investigation for statements conducive to public mischief under Section 505 of the Penal Code and for the misuse of network facilities under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

Teo, a former professor of ethnic studies and current senior fellow at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s ethnic studies institute, faced criticism from Seputeh MP Teresa Kok last week for allegedly making inflammatory remarks about the Chinese community.

In a Merdeka Times video, Teo said the Chinese community thought lowly of the Malays and that vernacular schools were barriers to national unity.

Firdaus Wong, owner of Merdeka Times, claimed that he was also summoned by the police for publishing Teo’s comments.

Zaid said if genuine dissatisfaction and grievances exist, efforts should be made to identify the source and seek a resolution.

“After all, we are not aggressive people; we are, by nature, accommodative and pleasant.

“Are we not the people known for our give and take?”