Isma urges Malay support as sedition trial looms

NGO Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) has launched a video calling on Malays to stand behind its president Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman who will face a sedition trial on Oct 13. 

 

In the video titled ‘Pewaris Bangsa’ the NGO calls on Malays to attend the hearing as a show of support for Abdullah Zaik, who is charged with sedition for saying that the Chinese entered Malaya as “intruders”.

 

“This is the struggle of a sovereign race, a struggle to raise the stature of Allah’s religion and to defend the rights of Malays in their own sovereign territory,” Abdullah Zaik says in video published on Youtube. 

 

The video also shows Abdullah Zaik (middle in pic) praying, and shaking hands and hugging other Isma leaders including vice-president Muhammad Fauzi Asmuni. 

 

Most stirring in the 4 minute 51 second video is the short speech by deputy president Aminuddin Yahaya who said that Isma members will stand by the struggle no matter what happens to Abdullah Zaik. 

 

“Even if he is jailed, Isma members will not budge one step from the struggle which we believe in, until our dying days,” he says.

 

Historical fact

 

According to Muhamad Fauzi, Abdullah Zaik and Isma are just defending a “historical fact”. 

 

“To say that Malays are newcomers like other races, we at Isma defend the actual historical fact. 

 

“We stress that this is a Malay Muslim region. Malays and Islam are the backbone of this country. This cannot be denied. Our constitution, our language, our culture stands on this,” he says. 

 

This was echoed by fellow vice-president Abdul Rahman Mat Dali, who said that Malays have never “disturbed” other races’ livelihoods. 

 

“But they forget their agreement with us and now they want to intervene in Malay and Islamic matters, by challenging the position of Islam,” he says.