National mariner Azhar is still a Muslim, declared Perlis Menteri Besar Shahidan Kassim after their meeting in Kangar yesterday.

"He still performs his daily prayers and also performed the Tarawih prayers the whole of last Ramadan and follows the teachings of Islam. How can it be said that he has changed his religion?" Bernama quoted Shahidan as telling reporters after the meeting.

Also present during the one-hour long meeting was Perlis Mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainal Abidin. However, Azhar declined to meet journalists waiting outside the MB's office.

Azhar was named in the SMS message that was floated in Perak last week that alleged 300 Muslims would be baptised by him at a church in Ipoh.

As a result of the SMS, about 1,000 Muslims gathered at the church in Jalan Silibin to check the matter out forcing police to be called in to control the situation. The matter is being investigated under the Sedition Act 1948.

Also implicated in the malicious SMS is Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria. Like Azhar, police are expected to call him to assist in investigations. According to the police, Harussani was not a suspect but his name was mentioned in the widely circulated SMS.

Azhar, who turns 50 in February, has denied any involvement in what was alleged in the SMS at a press conference on Thursday.

Resides in Australia

Shahidan said that the presence of the national hero, who made a successful solo voyage in his Jalur Gemilang yacht in 1999, in Langkawi was because he had come to celebrate the Hari Raya with friends and relatives. Azhar now resides in Australia.

"Usually he will drop by to see me during Hari Raya, but maybe this time because he was busy with his business in Langkawi, he could only come today," said Shahidan.

Shahidan said that the Mufti would issue a statement on the meeting at the latest by Monday.

He said that in the meeting, Azhar, who wore a white shirt and jeans, repeatedly stressed that he and his wife were still Muslims.

He said that Azhar saw it as a challenge and a test of Allah the insinuations being made against him.

Many groups have condemned the SMS, including Sisters in Islam who said that a small, ill-informed group of Muslims are causing fear and anxiety in the country by deliberately sowing hatred and racial ill-will.

The non-governmental organisation's Zaitun Kasim said these individuals and groups were using religion to drive a wedge between the different ethnic groups in the country.

Zaitun said the latest example of this trend was the act of writing and forwarding of the malicious SMS last Sunday which nearly caused a racial incident in Ipoh, Perak.