KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 — Fugitive Alvin Tan is under the spotlight again, this time with a video on his official Facebook page lampooning the azan, or the Muslim call to prayer, with an “R&B cover”.
In the two-minute-and-50-second video, Tan appears topless with a pair of sunglasses on, and plays a keyboard while reciting the azan in full.
“My latest goal is to get all mosques in Malaysia to play my cover instead of having them old geezers hunched over the mics, straining their vocal chords and cracking their voices,” Tan said in the sarcastic status update that accompanied the video.
At the time of writing, the video has received over 100 likes and over 700 shares, nine hours after it was published.
Despite his antics, several Muslims who commented on his post asked other adherents to have mercy and patience for Tan, with some even commenting that he was now “one step closer” to Islam.
“Patience… Relax. He wants to provoke us. Remember that the Prophet although he was pelted with excrement and garbage, he kept preaching Islam with smiles to his enemies,” said a comment by a user called Halimi Noordin, which received over 100 likes.
“Without him noticing, he bore witness that there is no God besides Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. Allah is great. Hopefully he will receive guidance from Allah and this will give a lesson to infidels who tease Islam,” said a comment by user Shah Shafeeq.
“Waa Alvin Tan is already Islam on one leg. All you have to do is pull the second leg to Islam camp and that’s it... You are a Muslim. Allah will surely provide you with guidance,” said another popular comment by user Janis Abdullah.
Tan’s post also drew angry comments from several non-Muslims who accused him of deliberately trying to provoke the Muslim community.
“This idiot is really getting on my nerves! Can someone out there do mankind a favour and put him to sleep?!!” said user Eugene Tan.
“I dun understand this kinda people… tryin to incite tensions for nothing. First it’s politicians then this numbskull of a prick. Every religion teaches to respect others and their believers, but these goons are just rotten apples,” one Facebook user wrote.
Tan, who first shot to fame here over his sex blog with a former girlfriend, fled the country last September to seek political asylum in the US after authorities prosecuted him for insulting Islam on Facebook.
In December last year, Immigration Director-General Datuk Mustafa Ibrahim announced that Putrajaya has revoked the passports of Tan and another fugitive, student activist Ali Abd Jalil, in a first for the country.
In a statement by the department, the duo were told to surrender their documents at a Malaysian embassy in their respective host countries.
Without the passports, both men no longer have valid legal documents necessary for them to travel from their host countries or to return to Malaysia.
Despite no longer being able to travel internationally and facing an asylum application that could drag on for years, Tan has said that he is prepared to wait out the process that he claimed was now easier thanks to the latest development.
