KAJANG, March 7 — Voters in the Kajang by-election should reject Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who stands for liberalism and chose Barisan Nasional’s Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun instead, a religious forum said last night.

As the by-election draws closer, the forum urged its mostly Malay audience to vote for MCA’s Chew even though she is not Muslim, claiming the Barisan Nasional (BN) component party would make a good makmum (follower) to the Muslim community.

“[Allah] wants to see the value system of Kajang voters in the leader they want … Are we humans who still have the capacity of thought, or are our thoughts overpowered by our desires?” said Datuk Zainal Abidin Sakom, who heads the charity group Yayasan Basmi Kemiskinan.

The forum  was titled “Ancaman liberalisme dan pluralisme kepada aqidah dan kesucian Islam” (The threats of liberalism and pluralism against Islamic faith and sanctity).

It was branded as a non-partisan religious forum, but was launched by Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan, who is also Umno’s information chief.

Selangor Umno chief Datuk Noh Omar also made a brief appearance, and was originally slated to be part of the panellists, while Zainal was formerly Umno’s assemblyman for Batang Kali.

At the start of the forum, the dozens of audience was shown a video of Anwar saying that Muslims and non-Muslims pray to the same god.

It was followed by the controversial remark made by Anwar’s daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar in a public forum in 2012, supporting freedom of religion among Malays.

Zainal’s fellow panellist Hassan Basri, accused PAS of forsaking its struggle for an Islamic state by joining Pakatan Rakyat, which is in turn led by Anwar.

Hassan was dropped from PAS in August 2012 together with three others, including former Selangor PAS secretary Norman Toha, who also joined the forum yesterday as moderator.

On Monday, conservative Muslim groups claimed that Anwar covets the mentri besar’s post for the power to rewrite Selangor’s laws and plunge the state into “liberal” decadence.

The groups alleged that Anwar — whom they described as resembling the “dajjal” or the Islamic equivalent of the “Antichrist” — is morally unfit for the post and that Islam in Selangor would deteriorate should he succeed in becoming mentri besar, adding that the PKR leader previously “supported anything that is against the teachings of Islam”.

The Kajang by-election was triggered by the unforced resignation of PKR’s Lee Chin Cheh last month, fuelling rumours that the move was engineered to allow Anwar to replace Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim as mentri besar.

The by-election in the state constituency, which is 41 per cent Chinese, will be held on March 23, while nominations are scheduled for March 11.