Trump's anti-Muslim tweets: Speak out, Najib told

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak needs to speak out against US President Donald Trump's anti-Muslim tweets, Pakatan Harapan leaders said.

"The prime minister should at least speak out. What is the use of meeting Trump if you don't use your good ties to speak out against his Islamophobia," Amanah vice-president Mujahid Yusof Rawa told Malaysiakini.

PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution (photo), meanwhile, said Najib's silence on the matter "is not an option".

"The Malaysian government must make it clear that Islam and Muslims have the right to be respected, recognised and be treated as a dignified religion and community," he added.

Trump on Wednesday retweeted three anti-Muslim videos posted by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of far-right group Britain First.

The first video allegedly shows a Muslim migrant in the Netherlands assaulting a youth on crutches.

Dutch officials and media have denied this, saying that the assailant was neither Muslim nor a migrant, and had been charged for the attack.

Another video claiming to be of Muslims pushing boys of a rooftop meanwhile, is said to be from the 2013 riots in Egypt following then-president Mohamed Morsi's ouster.

The third video, claiming to show a Muslim man destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary, is yet to be verified.

British Prime Minister Theresa May and other senior politicians have rebuked Trump over the tweets, with the British parliament debating whether to nix the US president's state visit planned in 2018.

Trump shot back with a tweet urging May not to focus on him, but instead on the "destructive radical Islamic terrorism" in the UK.

Najib claims to be close friends with Trump, and the two had last met in Manila last month.

They are reportedly "golfing buddies".

Commenting further on Trump's tweets, Mujahid said such actions were inappropriate.

"Trump is still in (his own) Islamophobic world, it is not appropriate the president of a world power to make such tweets," the Parit Buntar MP said.

Meanwhile, Saifuddin said the tweets will continue to strain the US' relationship with the rest of the world "if his (Trump's) inherent and unfounded hate and suspicions on Islam and Muslim continues.

Also weighing in on the tweets was Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin, who said Malaysia should condemn "trigger happy" and "childish" Trump.

"Where is the so-called wassatiyah (moderate) voice of Malaysia?" she questioned.

"Malaysia should call for a stop to Trump's anti-Muslim antics and get him to withdraw his tweets and warn him not to repeat it," she added.- Mkini