Screen capture shows one of the series of slides that BTN used to claim that racism can unite a race for a ‘good purpose’.

KUALA LUMPUR, June 21— Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia has defended the controversial National Civics Bureau (BTN), saying that it should not be scrapped but strengthened and even given more funds to continue its patriotic programmes.

Questioning DAP’s Lim Kit Siang’s demand for the BTN to be binned, the editors writing under the Awang Selamat pseudonym claimed that the Gelang Patah MP’s accusations about the agency were untrue.

“Once again, the BTN has become the target of the DAP– this time, the party advisor Lim Kit Siang wants BTN to be scrapped because he claims it is a waste of money and that it inculcates racial sentiments.

“This is an old tactic of the DAP to give a bad impression about BTN to society. Why fear the bureau when its role is to foster racial unity and adherence to the federal constitution?” Awang Selamat wrote in Mingguan Malaysia, Utusan Malaysia’s weekend edition.

Awang said Kit Siang should instead advise his son Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng against carrying out the state’s undersea tunnel project, which will allegedly cost more than RM6.3 billion.

“Seeing as Kit Siang is speaking about BTN, Awang suggests that the bureau be given more funds and strengthened further and its role be expanded to give birth to Malaysians who love their country,” Awang added.

Kit Siang recently called on the Najib adminstration to scrap the divisive BTN and end three decades of alleged fund wastage after the federal agency’s internal slides espousing racism and tarring “anti-establishment” groups were discovered online.

Adding his voice to a growing chorus of critics, the Gelang Patah MP pointed out that the agency under the aegis of the Prime Minister’s Department has strayed far from its original purpose of fostering patriotism and goodwill and cost taxpayers over RM1 billion over the past three decades.

The DAP parliamentary leader said the budget for the agency has been steadily increasing over the years, climbing from some RM20 million in the 1980s and RM200 million in the 1990s to the latest figure of RM365 million for the 2010-2015 period.

On Monday, BTN took down a folder on its website containing several presentation slides that were ridiculed by Malaysians online.

Some of the slides described independent book publishers as masterminds of an “anti-establishment” movement to influence youths voting in the 14th general election.

Another set of slides claimed that racism can unite a race for a “good purpose”, but has instead received a “negative connotation” as the idea is being used by certain parties to achieve their political goals and topple the government.

Despite denials by the government and the agency, sporadic leaks of closed-door events conducted by the BTN or featuring its staff have continued to entrench suspicions that the bureau was a hotbed of racism and “brainwashing”.

A senior BTN official caused an uproar back in 2010 when word leaked that he had used the terms “si mata sepet” and “si botol” at a closed-door Puteri Umno gathering to describe the Chinese and Indians respectively.

The terms are considered derogatory with “si mata sepet” meaning slit-eyed and “si botol”, alcoholic, in Malay.