Bersatu slams Umno for not upholding Malay, Islam rights

Summary

• Bersatu info chief Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz slams Umno for not defending Malays and Islam.

• Lawyer Rafique Rashid says there is no absolute equality in Malaysia.

• He refers to the Constitution, which places Islam as the federal religion and prevents the spread of other religions to Muslims.

Bersatu information chief Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz slammed Umno for not upholding the rights of Malays and Islam.

He said Umno’s president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh have failed to speak up in the recent matters regarding DAP leaders Nga Kor Ming and Hannah Yeoh.

“Where are the voices of the Malay-Muslim leaders in the cabinet? Especially the deputy prime minister. He is an Umno man, a Malay, a Muslim.

“What came out from his head and his mouth is that he is allergic to the colour green,” Tun Faisal (above) said at a press conference held after a rally against Nga and Yeoh today.

Tun Faisal was a former Umno leader, but was suspended from the party in March 2021 for breach of discipline and then sacked in February 2023, allegedly for violating the party’s code of ethics.

Today, members from Bersatu and PAS’ youth wings rallied against Nga over a Christmas celebration held at the Housing and Local Government Ministry in Putrajaya.

They were also protesting Yeoh’s biography “Becoming Hannah” for alleged evangelism of Christianity.

After Tun Faisal’s speech, lawyer and activist Rafique Rashid Ali spoke on the concept of equality in Malaysia.

“There are opinions now in Malaysia that we are all equal or that we have the right of equality as stated in Article 8 (of the Federal Constitution).

“But Article 8 is not absolute equality.

“There is no absolute equality in Malaysia,” he said.

He explained that the right to equality is restricted by Article 3, which places Islam as the federal religion, and Article 11(4), which prevents the spread of other religions to Muslims.

PAS recently targeted Nga and Yeoh over remarks that the party claimed posed a threat to Islam, with one party leader taking issue with a Christmas carol performance.

A Dec 24 video on Nga’s Facebook account showed ministry staff singing the song “Jingle Bells” – a song about the joy of riding a sleigh in the snow – and the song “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”.

Nga defended the event as a reflection of mutual respect and harmony among ministry staff while advising PAS leaders to repent and stop sharing slander, or disrupting the harmony of a multiracial society.

At the same time, Yeoh was criticised for translating excerpts from her autobiography, in which she speaks about how her Christian faith became an issue again on social media.

Critics zoomed in on her remarks that she was acting as an “ambassador of God” as proof that she was evangelising.

Previously, the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed Yeoh’s defamation suit against former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan for alleging that she was trying to turn Malaysia into a Christian nation, among others.

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