Say what you want about the Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA), but you can’t accuse it of not knowing how to use social media.
The controversial, often-incendiary Malay-Muslim rights organisation has released a video on YouTube via its official mediaisma account to defend its president Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman in his sedition case, and the video helpfully lists out the allegedly seditious remarks Abdullah Zaik made in May:
1. That he likened the entry of ethnic Chinese into Malaya as enabled by the British colonialists as a form of invasion;
2. That the ethnic Chinese entered Malaya as intruders;
3. Abdullah Zaik asked who it was that granted the ethnic Chinese their citizenship and allowed them to prosper in the country, and ensured their well-being to this day;
4. That the British colonialists colluded with Malaya’s ethnic Chinese community to oppress and bully the Malay commmunity.
All heady accusations to have been made in 2014, to be sure; and ones that normally would be refuted by an organisation trying to defend the honour and integrity of its leader. However, ISMA took the amazing step of actually doubling down on Abdullah Zaik’s statements, arguing that hey – it’s not seditious if what we’re saying is actually true.
While not addressing the notion that Chinese Malaysians are intruders at all, ISMA vice president Muhammad Fauzi Asmuni side-counters in the video that to say Malays are immigrants to Malaysia is ridiculous, and that Malay culture and Islam have always been “the bedrock of Malaysian society”. ISMA is just protecting the soul of the nation from outside threats.
ISMA deputy president Aminuddin Yahaya goes on to say in the video that ISMA is often maligned for being racist and extremist just for defending Malay and Muslim rights, while those “attacking and threatening” Malays go scot-free. He goes on to say that “racist” and “extremist” are just empty slogans fabricated to cast ISMA in a bad light.
ISMA vice president II Abdul Rahman Mat Dali also chimes in, saying in the video that “we” (ostensibly meaning the Malays, which he purports to represent) had never obstructed the Chinese community from residing in Malaysia and making their fortunes here, but it is the Chinese who are now interfering in the affairs of the Malay-Muslim community, forgetting their place in the “social compact” between the races and challenging the “position of the Malays” in Malaysia.
The video is bookended with a rousing snippet of M Nasir’s ‘Mentera Semerah Padi’, no doubt to further stoke the fires of ISMA’s support base. We wonder if they cleared the copyright for the use of the song, and if they plan on paying out royalties to M Nasir. It would be pretty bad PR if ISMA were to shortchange a hardworking Malay-Muslim musician out of his rightful performance royalties.
Check out the video in full here:
