Facing criticism over its labelling of non-Malays as “intruders”, controversial NGO Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) has taken pains to show how tolerant Malays are in the face of “transgressions”.

Listing out 15 examples of non-Malay transgressions, Isma deputy president Aminuddin Yahaya (below) also questioned why non-Malays are riled up “like frogs jumping under the heat” over just “a word”.

He also argued that the list of examples show that there is no race in the world more tolerant than the Malays.

"Is it that a word used simply to defend ourselves can be considered as racist and seditious?

"Is it fair that the feelings of Malay Muslims are allowed to be hurt day in and day out and do nothing about it?" he said in a statement today.

However, Aminuddin did not use the word “intruder”, first used by Isma president Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahim to refer to non-Malays, but instead referred to it as ' satu kalimah ' (a word).

Abdullah Zaik (below) is being investigated for sedition after he labelled Chinese Malaysians as "intruders out to bully Malays", and that Malays should now correct this historical mistake.

'They started it first'

According to Aminuddin, there is no race in the world more tolerant than Malays as Malays allowed some 980,000 Chinese and Indians to become citizens during Independence.

He also claimed that the government at that time had also given each of the non-Malays 10 acres of land, but did not provide evidence to pass this off as a historical fact.

Despite the freebies for non-Malays, he said, the Malays were never against other races or took issue of their wealth.

"Malaysia is the only country with so many religious holidays. Malaysia is the only country with various type of schools based on race.

"All this is to take care of the feelings of other races. In short, Malays are not a race that want conflict but loves peace and is far from racist," he said.

However, he said other races have taken advantage of this.

"Not only do they dispute the rights of Malays, but more vicious is when they dispute and threaten the Federal Constitution and the dignity of Islam," said Aminuddin.

Other alleged transgressions against the Malays include demands for equal rights, insisting Malaysia is secular, insulting the monarchs, opposing hudud, demands for Malay-only education institutions to be open to other races and insisting on preserving vernacular schools.

"In short, I can list many more actions by other races who are chauvinistic and have hurt the feelings of Malays for many years while the Malays have faced these with patience for the sake of racial harmony," said Aminuddin.

He said any statements made by the Malay Muslim community was merely a reaction to actions taken by the chauvinistic races.

"They started it first. I am confident if other races stop hurting the feelings of Malay Muslims, the Malay Muslims will not react," he said.