The battle of words is still ongoing in Malaysia over the controversies stirred by imposing Islamic calligraphy and the resistance to deport controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik.
Malaysia has ruled that it is okay for Chinese and Indian language schools called vernacular schools to teach Islamic calligraphy or Khat.
This has offended many non-Muslims who are the biggest voter bank behind the Pakatan Harapan government.
But the debate on the issue has since taken a different turn. The former and controversial police chief of Malaysia is chipping-in on the sudden racist angle in this whole affair.
It started with reactions from non-Malays calling-out Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for saying a Chinese group fighting against the Islamic calligraphy in schools is a racist group.
Now the ex-police chief Musa Hassan is quoted by the portal Umno Online as saying other races would not exist in Malaysia if the Malays were racists.
According to Umno Online, Musa says there is a challenge against Islam and “when we are challenged we have to speak up but unfortunately when we speak we are accused of being racists, extremists.”
Speaking during a talk entitled ‘Race Despised, Religion Ridiculed’ in Malay ‘Bangsa Dihina, Agama Dipersenda’ organized by the UMNO Women’s wing held at the UMNO Auditorium, yesterday.
Musa says the Malays have to explain their position, adding, “if the Malays are racist, they will not be able to live in this country,”
Below is a YouTube video of his speech in Malay.
Digging in the country’s history, he says, “If we look at history, this country belongs to Malay, but when we were colonised by foreigners other races that came as workers eventually became citizens.”
After independent, he says, the country was built on the principle that all races should respect the others.
“That is why (Malaysia) allows all religions but on the condition that Islam remains the (official) religion of this country. Therefore, we should respect each other for closer ties so that the country can develop well,” he says.
He urges the non-Malays to respect the Malays when they defend their faith, adding that lately there has been a lot of attacks against Malays and disrespect for Islam.