A small cadre of red-shirted Malay-Muslim protesters turned up at the Bayview Beach Resort in Batu Feringghi, Penang, to call for the cancellation of an international gathering of Freemasons happening on the island this week.
Numbering only 20 protesters, the group of Red Shirts claiming to represent an organisation called the Gerakan Merah (Red Movement) positioned themselves outside the hotel and shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great”) while they were monitored by several policemen.
The protesters proclaimed that the Freemason conference was an affront to Islam, and that Freemasonry furthered the cause of anti-Islamic Jews.
President of the Jaringan Melayu Malaysia, Azwanddin Hamzah, who was among the protesters outside the hotel, accused Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng of sponsoring the event.
“We want the Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to explain if the DAP state government is the one sponsoring this event,” he said, according to The Malay Mail Online‘s Opalyn Mok.
He also accused Freemasons of being Jews, anti-Islam, and instigators of wars against Muslims throughout history – all claims held on to by conspiracy theorists who regard Freemasons as a public front for the mysterious and malevolent Illuminati.
The hotel is currently playing host to the four-day Scottish Masonic conference, which gathers representatives of Freemason chapters from 15 countries across the globe. The conference is also in conjuction with the 100th anniversary of the District Grand Lodge of the Middle East (DGLME).
On February 16, UMNO Youth executive committee member Armand Azhar Abu Hanifah called on Malay-Muslim NGOs to protest the Freemason conference, claiming that it was the duty of all God-fearing Muslims to oppose the society.
A DGLME spokesperson asserted that Freemasonry is merely a social charity organisation, not unlike the Rotary Club.
“We are a registered society and whatever that’s being said is inaccurate. Whatever they are saying in untrue. Illuminati is something totally different and has got nothing to do with our movement,” the representative said.
“For your information, most of our members are experienced professionals such as lawyers, doctors and many others and DGLME has been around for 100 years.”
Some Muslims oppose and object to the concept of Freemasonry, claiming that the organisation is a front for the mysterious and malevolent Illuminati, which they believe aims to usher in the age of the Dajjal, or Antichrist, and works hand-in-hand with Satanists and Zionists.
Here’s a tweet commenting on the protest by Wan Saiful Wan Jan, CEO of the Institute for Democracy & Economic Affairs (IDEAS):
“Those who trip over themselves protesting the conference in Penang do not represent the Malays. They merely represent their own stupidity.”
