Over the past several years, Muslim preacher Ustaz Mohamad Kazim Elias has become a fixture on Malaysian media, with a successful marriage counseling show on Astro Oasis (Kalau Ada Jodoh, or “If This is My Fated Match”) and a string of high-profile speaking engagements, including his own Islamic spiritual and motivational holiday cruise.
His popularity and non-aggressive reputation is in jeopardy now that a six-year old video of Kazim delivering part of a ceramah, or religious talk, in Kuala Lumpur has gone viral.
The video depicts the preacher of lambasting Malaysia’s non-Muslim and non-Malay communities for challenging the “sovereign superiority” of the Malay Rulers and Islam in Malaysia, even as they engage in “immoral behaviour” while Malay-Muslims defend the country as they make up the bulk of Malaysia’s law enforcement, military, and even service sectors.
At the start of the 2:26 video on YouTube, Kazim asks his audience, “What do you think goes on in the homes of the Chinese at night? Whatdo they talk about in the kopitiams? They get drunk in the clubs, while Malay soldiers toil in the jungles and out at sea defending this country.
“Who is the master, and who is the slave? And now suddenly they say they do not want Malay supremacy.”
He also goes on to say that Malaysians of the Hindu faith hardly make up a percentage of the country’s armed forces personnel – and that many more would rather become muggers and thieves.
Speaking to Bernama in response to claims that the video indicates that he is racist, Kazim said the talk in question was one in which he defended the position of the Malay Rulers, Malay rights, and the sanctity of Islam as Malaysia’s official religion.
“The complainant did not understand what I meant, or he just understood what was said in that two-minute video clip, he did not get to watch before and after that two minutes,” he said yesterday.
He maintained that doing so was part of his duty as a Muslim.
Kazim also asserted that the current heat on him was merely a smokescreen to divert public attention away from more pressing matters, such as the debate on Islamic hudud law, and Pakatan Rakyat’s proposal to reintroduce local government elections. He also said the controversy is an attempt to hinder him from speaking publicly.
“I do not want to argue or pick up a fight. This is an old issue which has resurfaced after about six years.
“I am not a politician and not involved in any political parties. I only talk on religion but I am being accused and harassed,” he said.
Last Monday, the chair of the Kampung Jambu Resident Association in Tumpat, Kelantan, Pui Tiong Lam, lodged a police report alleging that Kazim had aimed to humiliate the Chinese Malaysian community in the content of his speech as depicted in the video.
Yesterday, Kazim moved to lodge a police report of his own, accusing those who had been spreading the video of his talk as wanting to incite racial sentiment.
Video: TheHarimauTV
