Persatuan Belia Islam Malaysia (Pembina) wants the government to take stern action against Lawyers for Liberty executive director Eric Paulsen, who it described as anti-Islam.

Pembina is an initiative of Muslim NGO Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma), which was founded in 2006 and focusing on the youth.

Pembina president Ibrahim Mohd Hasan Al-Hafiz claimed Paulsen has been consistently disparaging Islam and often meddled in affairs pertaining to the faith.

"If he is ignorant, he would have stopped after being reprimanded.

"But he has derided the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim), Friday sermon and hudud. So I conclude that Paulsen is anti-Islam," Ibrahim ( left ) told Isma mouthpiece Ismaweb.

He claimed that if Paulsen is allowed to be free, the human rights lawyer has the potential to cause chaos and disrupt racial harmony in Malaysia.

Therefore, he urged the government not to close an eye to such cases.

"The government must take immediate action to ensure that Paulsen does not make more statements that are seditious and can divide the races," Ibrahim said.

The Pembina leader also advised Paulsen not to interfere in other faiths and leave such discussions to the experts.

"Paulsen must stop meddling in Islamic affairs, or in any other religions, for that matter.

"Let those with knowledge handle it. Don't poke your nose into the religions of others," Ibrahim added.

Paulsen: Let people judge me

When contacted, Paulsen told Malaysiakini that he found the "anti-Islam" label bizarre, and accused Pembina of being irrational.

"I urge them to reflect upon the origins of Malaysia. Everyone has a place in Malaysia, and the rights of Muslims and non-Muslims are protected.

"They should discard this siege mentality, for there is no plot against Islam or the Malays," he said.

Paulsen also said that those who could not articulate their points of view, often resorted to labelling and demonising others.

"These people should argue or debate with me, instead of lodging police reports and churning out labels.

"I do not wish to be defensive. It is for the people to judge me, not only based on my tweets, but also my work as a lawyer and human rights activist," he added.

Paulsen has been arrested twice for separate tweets touching on Islam - the first for accusing Jakim of spreading extremism through its Friday sermons and the second for his tweet on hudud.

He was charged with sedition on Feb 5 for the tweet on Jakim, but the magistrate's court denied the remand application from the police to hold him for investigation on his hudud tweet.