(Pic of Utusan Malaysia article)
The governments’ claims that there are no extremists in Malaysia has been rapped for being a “faux pas”.
DAP leader Lim Kit Siang in a statement today said Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s claim that extremism had never existed among Muslim Malaysians is a misstep and a mistake.
“Muhyiddin’s latest faux pas joins te DPM’s host of infamous “quotes” like “I am Malay first, Malaysian second” and “Malaysian youngsters are receiving better education than children in the United States, Britain and Germany”,” Lim said.
Muhyiddin yesterday said that Muslims in Malaysia are moderates.
“Since when did we have such extremism in Malaysia?”
“In fact, the Muslims here are among the most moderate in the entire world,” he had reportedly said.
Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, was responding to Lawyers for Liberty co-founder Eric Paulsen’s tweet that the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) was spreading extremism in Malaysia through its state-issued Friday sermons.
Lim said the Bukit Aman Special Counter Terrorism Division had arrested 51 Malaysians suspected of being Islamic militants, while Muslim Malaysians fighting for Islamic State in Syria and Iraq gone up from 39 to 59 since October.
Lim said that these were examples of extremism which are apparent in all races and religions, warning that they posed a serious threat to the future of Malaysia and even the world.
He added that this was why moderates in the country should unite and forge a unity of moderates to drown out the voices and rhetoric of extremism, hatred, and disharmony.
Lim also asked Muhyiddin to be cautious of his statements, which led to immediate arrest of Eric Paulsen under the Sedition Act by 20 policemen who brought him to the Dang Wangi police station.
Paulsen was yesterday arrested for his tweet last Friday, which read: “”Jakim is promoting extremism every Friday. Government needs to address that if serious about extremism in Malaysia”
Lim said that the arrest only highlighted the selectivity of law enforcement in the country, “which has given Malaysia a bad name in the world with regard to the rule of law and the administration of justice.”
Last year, Mashitah Ibrahim, UMNO Wanita Baling Chief had accused the Chinese community in Kedah of burning the Quran page by page in a ritual. At the party’s general assembly meet last year, she riled up UMNO delegates further, asking if they felt challenged, threatened and in rage of the incident. This was despite Kedah Menteri Besar Mukhriz Mahathir clarifying in a statement that a mentally unsound Malay man was responsible for folding and not burning the pages of the Quran.
Opposition leaders reported the incident and called the UMNO assembly a “non-Muslim bashing session”. No arrests materialised from the reports. -The Rocket
