KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 -- Islamist group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) has deviated from the religion’s teachings with its recent “bigoted” verbal attack against Datuk A. Samad Said after the national laureate joined the DAP, a youth leader with the secular party said today.
Syerleena Abdul Rashid said Isma purports to be an organisation that champions Muslim Malay rights, but the group’s mocking rebuke of 83-year-old Samad for choosing a “deviant path” in joining DAP has exposed it to as a “typical bigoted ultra-right wing machinery in this country”.
“Islam is a religion that encourages compassion and justice. It is a religion that teaches sound morals judgments and forbids bad conduct. Religious texts urge Muslims to respect and honor the elderly as Islam has given the elderly a special status within our socio-religious structure,” Syerleena, who is both secretary for the Bukit Bendera DAP and the division’s Youth wing, said in a statement.
“The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: ‘Part of glorifying Allah is honouring the grey-haired Muslim’,” she added.
The Penang councillor urged Malaysians to pressure the government to censure Isma, saying religious-based prejudice is the “lowest and most vile form of bigotry” that corrupts good values under the guise of piety.
“Faith in Malaysia’s social and political structure can only be restored if the ruling party can muster the courage to condemn these continuous attacks and walk the talk of moderation and progressivity.
“These bigoted groups contradict the image of the moderate Malaysia, our Prime Minister often attempts to portray,” she said, referring to Datuk Seri Najib Razak who mooted moderation as a way to combat the global rise of religious extremism.
In a mocking entry on its website on Wednesday, Isma president Abdullah Zaik Abd Rahman said the Malay writer popularly known as Pak Samad should pay more attention to life after death as he approaches the grave and choose a path that will offer him a “good ending”.
Isma’s vitriol came after Samad joined DAP in a low-key event in Kelantan on June 13, saying he had longed to join the party for the past two years.
