Viva Palestina Malaysia (VPM) apologised today after the solidarity rally for Palestine it organised on Sunday came under heavy criticism.
Among others, VPM and its chairperson Dr Musa Mohd Nordin were accused of being condescending and stand-offish, including against Palestinians who attended the rally at Dataran Merdeka.
Taking to X - formerly known as Twitter - Musa said he was made to understand that “some quarters” were not happy with how the rally was organised.
“As such, on behalf of VPM, we apologise for all shortcomings,” he said.
Yesterday, Musa was quoted by news portal Scoop as saying that some Palestinians were being provocative at the rally.
“I think they (a group of Palestinian attendees) were not interested in listening to the talks, they kept interrupting (the speeches).
“My security told them: ‘If you misbehave, we will have no choice but to report you to the police, and this may threaten your stay in Malaysia’,” he had said.
Meanwhile, he was also accused of disallowing people from chanting the takbir (Arabic phrase ‘Allahu Akbar’).
Responding to this on X today, the VPM chairperson said it was a “non-issue”.
“(PKR vice president) Nurul Izzah Anwar and Badlishah (Sham Baharin) the president of Ikram said the takbir during their speeches. Many in the crowd did say takbir which we did not stop.
“The master of ceremonies just reminded (the crowd) that this is a multi-religious gathering and we ought to do chants which everyone can join in,” he said.
He also denied labelling an individual - who tried to hold up a placard calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a ‘devil’ - a Zionist.
He said he merely told the person they should not stoop to the “hate discourse of the Zionists”.
He further justified this by saying that police had instructed VPM to act swiftly against hate speech. - Mkini
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