Umno's upcoming 30 "educational" roadshows may be aimed at ramping up support for the party, but will incite anger and hatred against non-Muslims, Selangor Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers say.
PAS MP Khalid Samad along with PKR's Rafizi Ramli and DAP's Charles Santiago said that this was Umno's strategy to regain support from Malays after riling them up over the issue.
"This is what Umno wants. They want to create a situation where Muslims will feel threatened by non-Muslims," Khalid told The Malaysian Insider.
On Wednesday, Selangor Umno chief Datuk Seri Noh Omar (pic) announced that 30 roadshows had been lined up to "educate" Muslims on the state's controversial legislation governing propagation among Muslims in view of the “Allah” row.
The roadshows, involving the participation of 22 Umno branches in Selangor, will be used as a platform to educate Muslims on the provisions of the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions Enactment 1988 (Control of Propagation among Muslims), a law which prohibits non-Muslims in the state from using the word “Allah” and 34 other Arabic words.
The first was held in Sekinchan on Wednesday night.
"Umno's ultimate aim is to create a situation where Muslims will feel threatened," Khalid said.
"It is a political game. Umno's survival depends on whether they can make Muslims feel they are under threat.”
He said that this was also Umno's way of diverting attention from other problems in the country, including the rising cost of living.
"Forget about corruption, greed and bad governance. The best way to divert the people's attention is to look as if we are at war with non-Muslims," he added.
Santiago said that Noh was trying to drum up support by showing that he was "more Muslim than other Muslims".
"And now he is almost an extremist. It is not so much about the ‘Allah’ issue but about his (Noh's) political survival. Support for him has dwindled since 2008," the Klang MP said.
Rafizi said that the roadshow would "confuse" the public even further.
"Even Noh is confused about the issue. A confused man will only wreak more havoc and this will be disastrous for the public."
PR would hold its own roadshows to counter Noh's claims and "clear the air" about the Allah issue, Rafizi said.
"We have to challenge him and contest this. Otherwise, Noh will get a free platform to confuse the people," he said, adding that PR should also reaffirm its stand on the “Allah” issue.
Khalid called on Muslims in the state not to be "duped" by Umno as it was merely a "political game" for the party.
"It is a political game and they are now resorting to more extreme strategies. Muslims shouldn't be taken in," he added.
Noh had said that speakers for the roadshow included Perkasa's Datuk Zulkifli Noordin, ustaz Rusdi Long and several syariah lawyers who would "explain the situation from the legal and religious perspectives".
"It will be more of a talk to educate Muslims about why non-Muslims are prohibited from using the word ‘Allah’ here (Selangor). We will have two speakers for each roadshow,” said Noh.
On Sunday, Noh had led about 1,000 Umno members in Hulu Selangor in a protest against the use of the word “Allah” by Christians.
At the end of the march, they burnt an effigy of Rev Father Lawrence Andrew, who is the editor of Catholic weekly Herald.
Andrew had earlier said that Catholics in Selangor would continue using the word “Allah” in their Sunday masses.
This was after the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) said that it would write to churches in Selangor to stop using the word.
Andrew’s statement was taken as a direct challenge to an edict by the sultan of Selangor that non-Muslims in the state were prohibited from using the word “Allah”.
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