Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim) today expressed its ‘gratitude’ to Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) for linking the former to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Abim president Amidi Abdul Manan ( left ) told Malaysiakini it was an honour as Anwar is a “great Muslim leader, both locally and internationally”.

He, however, said Isma might have forgotten that Abim also cooperates with former Abim members in both the Prime Minister’s Office and Deputy Prime Minister’s Office.

“To say that our backbone is Anwar alone is a biased statement,” he said in response to Sungai Petani Isma leader Muhammad Luttfi Abdul Khalid’s statement yesterday.

On Luttfi’s challenge for Abim to state its stand over the country’s status, Amidi said Abim’s stand has always been that Malaysia is an Islamic country.

“This stand is based on the constitution and the country’s history. Since our establishment, we have always wanted to implement the Islamic da’wah.

Amidi had last week urged quarters that had played up the issue on the country’s status to stop, as contention on the matter will lead to tension in the country.

He said Luttfi must have misunderstood his statement as it was made over Sibu MP Oscar Ling’s querying of whether the country was secular or not.

“Isma is trying to be a hero over the matter. If they support the debate over the status of the country, they are only dancing to the beat of DAP,” he said.

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