KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 — Muslims in Malaysia face real conspiracies coming from Christians and “chauvinists”, Islamist group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) insisted today when disputing Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s claim otherwise.
The group slammed Anwar for accusing political rivals Umno of falsely perpetuating the idea that Islam was under siege, saying the opposition leader is turning a blind eyes towards continued allegations of attempts to subvert Islam’s position in Malaysia.
“Muslims are facing threats from evangelist Christians and chauvinists who are becoming more aggressive and rude by insulting the faith, practices and tradition of Muslims,” Isma president Abdullah Zaik Abd Rahman said in a statement here.
“Nobody can deny that the agenda of liberalism, religious pluralism, total equality and Christianisation were brought to this country through various approaches through proxies and certain networks linked to international Jews, Freemasons and evangelist Christians.”
Isma also accused Anwar of using the ongoing tussle over “Allah” between Christians and Muslims to depict himself as a “true statesman”, and disregarding the concerns of the latter religious community by supporting opposing claims to the Arabic word for God.
“He is trying to ignore the anxieties, worries, ire and insults felt by the Malays and Muslims coming from the threats of liberalism, religious pluralism and total equality, which will erode the identity and challenge the sovereignty of religion and race,” Zaik added.
“Furthermore, he is insensitive towards the call for extreme freedom that is destroying the morals and faith of the new generation of Muslims.”
On Sunday, Anwar called for a bipartisan dialogue today between the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) and opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalitions to solve the “Allah” dispute he argued is derailing Malaysia from its economic goals.
Following that, Prime Minister Datuk Najib Razak said on Monday that he will bring Anwar’s idea of a “national consensus” to the Cabinet.
Malaysia is currently grappling with an intractable religious conflict between Muslims and Christians over “Allah”, the Arabic word for God, which culminated in two Molotov cocktails being thrown at a church in Penang on Monday, just as how houses of worship were attacked in 2010 over the same issue.
The issue worsened after Selangor Islamic authorities said it would begin enforcing the state enactment that it insists bars non-Muslims from using “Allah”.
The ongoing legal dispute is still pending before the Federal Court, which is set to hear arguments from both sides on March 5 before deciding on whether it will hear an appeal by the Catholic Church.
