Isma chief Abdullah Zaik has a court date to answer charges of sedition for calling non-Malays 'trespassers'. - The Malaysian Insider pic, September 30, 2014.As Isma president Abdullah Zaik Abd Rahman's sedition trial draws near, the Islamic NGO has released a video today defending their Malay-rights ideals and blaming the non-Malays for provoking the community.
Set to the tune of traditional Malay music, the YouTube video titled Pewaris Bangsa (Heirs of the Race) features several top Isma leaders declaring the supremacy of their race and religion, and lamenting the "interference" of the non-Malays.
Isma vice-president 2 Abdul Rahman Mt Dali said in the video that the non-Malays had "forgotten their promise" and were intervening in the affairs of Malays and Muslims as well as challenging their positions in the country.
"We have no problem with them, they stay here, we have never disturbed them, but now and lately we see that they are interfering, they have forgotten their old promise," he said in an interview in the video.
Isma vice-president 1 Muhammad Fauzi claimed there were attempts to denigrate the Malays as "pendatang (immigrants), just like the other races".
He said Isma members were simply rising up to defend the "true facts that happened in history".
"We want to affirm that this is a Malay Muslim region where Malays and Islam are the two pillars of the country and this cannot be disputed," said Fauzi in the video.
The group's deputy president, Aminuddin Yahaya, denied that their beliefs were racist and insisted they were merely defending their religion and race.
He added they would support their president even if he were imprisoned for sedition.
"God willing, the strength in our president will continue to ignite all Isma members and we shall not stray even one step away from our battle until the end of our lives," he said.
The video, which is almost five minutes long, ends with shots of Abdullah Zaik praying and a message urging the public to appear at the Kajang Sessions Court on October 13 to support Isma and its president as he attends the hearing.
On June 19, Abdullah Zaik was charged under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act 1948 for claiming that the Chinese migrants who had come to Malaya during the British colonial era were "trespassers".
"Who gave them citizenship and wealth to the point that the results of their trespassing has been protected to this day," Abdullah Zaik had said in a statement published on Isma's website on May 6.
He faces a maximum RM5,000 fine or jail up to three years or both for any of the charges laid down in the Act.
- TMI
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