KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — An Umno Supreme Council member suggested yesterday that allegations of graft against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was an attempt to weaken the Muslim community in the country.

According to Datuk Seri Mohd Sharkar Shamsuddin, those who wished to attack the Muslims here would do so by attacking Umno first, drawing comparison to the Arab Spring series of revolts in 2011.

“If they want to weaken Muslims in this country, they must weaken Umno considering the party has 89 parliamentary seats compared to PAS with just 21 seats,” Sharkar told Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia.

“Now they are using foreign media to attack and this situation is up to us to be on which side,” he said in a Ramadan event, although he did not specify to whom he was referring.

“Maybe there are those who feel happy, but we must remember in long term how the Arab Spring has caused the countries affected to be crippled and unstable up until now,” added Sharkar.

Sharkar said the “relentless” attack against Najib suggests a meticulous plan and a major agenda of unnamed parties to topple Islamic leaders, just like in several Middle East countries.

“In Malaysia, they found that among the ways to topple our leader is to personally attack him after various attacks at national level was unsuccesful,” he said.

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that 1MDB investigators have discovered five separate deposits from two sources that were allegedly made into Najib’s accounts, citing government documents that it claimed to have viewed.

The largest two transactions, it said, were for US$621 million (RM2.3 billion) and US$61 million allegedly made in March 2013, shortly before the tumultuous Election 2013 in May.

A further transfer of RM42 million, purportedly made into Najib’s account at the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015, is believed to have come from SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former subsidiary of 1MDB that was in 2012 parked under the Finance Ministry that Najib heads, WSJ said.

The exposé led to immediate calls for a thorough investigation by opposition leaders, who also demanded that Najib be relieved from his duty until the probe is over.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail announced Saturday a special task force is currently investigating the alleged money trail that involves several companies that purportedly channeled the funds to Najib’s bank accounts, including SRC International, Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd and Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd.