Former Court of Appeal judge Mohd Noor Abdullah has clarified that he did not wish for war, but had instead only suggested a “transformation from bad to good”, when making his recent controversial statement pertaining to Malay political power.

mohd noor abdullah ex court of appeal judge 130513 He claimed yesterday that the term ' jihad' (holy war), which he used during a forum last weekend, had been misinterpreted as him wanting “war”, adding that this is nothing more than a perception.

“When we use the term jihad , the public perception is to go to war. It is not like that, transformation from something that is bad to that which is good, is also jihad ,” he said .

Mohd Noor ( left ) claimed that he has long fought to save Malaysia from self-induced conflict.

“Like me, I care for race, my children, my grandchildren, my descendants and all Malaysians. What I am afraid of is disaster wrought among ourselves.

“So I ‘berjihad’ to save the Malaysian people from falling into our own fighting arena,” he explained during an interview on Helo Malaysia, which was aired on Bernama TV last night.

‘Give me a chance to explain’

During last Sunday’s forum, Mohd Noor solicited controversy when, in his speech, he reminded the Malays to be wary of “Chinese betrayal” in view of the May 5 general election result.

“The Chinese betrayal towards the Malay's hand of friendship - that is true. Because they plotted to seize political power even though they already have economic power,”

“For the Malays, the pantang larang (taboo) is to be betrayed, because when they are betrayed, they will react and when they react, their dendam kesumat tidak tersudah-sudah (wrath will be endless),” Mohd Noor had said.

NONE His statements were lambasted by PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim ( right ) as being racist and worse than the white supremacy group the Ku Klux Klan .

DAP legal bureau chief Gobind Singh Deo called for Mohd Noor be charged under the Sedition Act 1948.

Commenting on all the negative reaction towards him, Mohd Noor last night stated he believed only politicians took his words to be racist, whereas his statements were based on the federal constitution.

“Politicians view a statement from a narrow viewpoint. I here want to explain something according to the constitution, (so) the rakyat should be given a chance to listen.

“Don’t shut my mouth by saying Mohd Noor is racist, Mohd Noor (is like the) Ku Klux Klan, Mohd Noor is Hitler, don’t be like that.

“Give me a (chance) to explain the parameters in which the constitution guarentees the rakyat lives in peace,” he added.