Asyraf Wajdi warns of rally bigger than anti-Icerd

Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki has once again warned of a mega-rally following the government's purported lack of action against certain quarters who he said have insulted the Malays and Islam.

This time, Asyraf issued the warning in front of about 400 people during a gathering to highlight threats against Islam in the country at the National Mosque today.

The event was organised by the NGO Gerakan Pembela Ummah and among those present were PAS vice-president Idris Ahmad and Ummah vice- president Kamaruzzaman Mohamad.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was also spotted in the crowd.

"We are here not because of political parties but to express our anger because our Prophet (Muhammad) has been insulted. Where is the de facto Islamic affairs minister and the MPs? The authorities only take action after we speak out," he said.

Asyraf was believed to be referring to the case of a senior citizen who had allegedly insulted Prophet Muhammad last month through a social media post.

The 68-year old man was released on police bail and this prompted a warning from Umno and PAS Youth of to a mega-rally to express their dissatisfaction with what they perceived as a lackadaisical approach by the authorities towards the case.

Asyraf said a rally bigger than the anti-Icerd rally would be held if there were more insults against the Islam and the Malays.

Idris, on the other hand, said today's gathering was to demonstrate love for the prophet and urged the non-Muslims to respect Islam.

"Today, we converge to show our love for Prophet Muhammad. He's a prophet and we have been taught to not insult prophets including Prophet Isa (Jesus).

"We want to show that the Muslims have feelings. Their souls are with Islam," he said.

Idris cited the example of the British colonialists who were able to administrate the country longer than the Japanese because they didn't touch on matters of whereas the latter Islam had burning mosques and surau leading to their short occupancy here.

"Don't insult our prophet because we don't insult other religions. If we can respect you, you should also respect us," said Idris.

During a press conference later, Kamaruzzaman accused some English language portals of brazenly insulting religious matters, adding certain quarters had also insulted the Malay rulers.

"They openly insult the institution of Malay rulers and some of them are part of the government," he said.

Kamaruzzaman also repeated Asyraf's statement that there would be a mega-rally had the government failed to curb such insults. - Mkini