Malaysian PM condemns burning of Quran by Swedish politician 

Malaysia strongly condemns the Islamophobic act of a Swedish-Danish politician in burning a copy of the Quran, said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

In a statement, the 75-year-old denounced the burning of Islam’s holy book in Stockholm, Sweden, yesterday by extremist Swedish-Danish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan.

“Malaysia urges the Swedish government to take urgent measures against the perpetrators of this vile act, as well as ensuring drastic steps in the future to address the alarming rise of Islamophobia in Sweden,” he said.

“Such a blatant defilement of Islam’s holy book by the Swedish politician and the inaction are tantamount to fomenting Islamophobia, and constitutes a grave provocation to the sensitivities of not just Turkiye, but more than two billion Muslims in the world,” he added.

Anwar also condemned ongoing global hate crimes against Muslims, including verbal and physical incitement of hatred and racism.

“Malaysia denounces the repeated hate crimes targeting Muslims in the world, as well as all forms of incitement to hatred and the fanning of racism in word or deed, and views with grave concern the rising tide of hate speech on account of faith or ethnicity,” said the prime minister.

Anwar emphasised the importance of upholding mutual respect principles when resolving disputes.

He also reaffirmed the need for the international community to stand together against all forms of hate speech and incitement to violence while rejecting racial and religious intolerance as legitimate forms of expression.

Paludan is a Swedish-Danish far-right political extremist who is known for his anti-Islam activism and protests. Last year, the leader of the Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party started “tourning” Sweden while burning copies of the Quran in the open.

According to police in Stockholm, he was granted permission to burn the Quran outside the Turkish embassy yesterday on the basis of Sweden’s liberal constitution, which protects the right to demonstrate.

Following his protest, Ankara cancelled a meeting with Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson. They were supposed to discuss and resolve Turkiye’s objections to Sweden’s bid to join the Nato military alliance.

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