In fiery speech, cleric tells forum only Malays fought invaders, communists

© Provided by Malay Mail Online Ummah president Ismail Mina speaks during the ‘Konvensyen Kebangkitan Ummah 2018’ held at the Malaysia Islamic Centre in Kuala Lumpur January 13, 2018. ― Picture by Miera ZulyanaKUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — A Muslim cleric from a conservative Islamic coalition told a convention here today that only the Malay community had resisted British colonialists and Japanese occupiers, erasing the contributions of other ethnicities.

Ismail Mina, the president of the Ummah umbrella group for Muslim organisations, also asserted that only the Malays had battled the communists, which he claimed made the community a target of the predominantly-Chinese Insurgency that lasted for forty years.

“I want to tell you now, despite other races having been in the country then, only the Malays fought against the Siamese, the British, the Japanese,” Ismail said in a speech peppered with religious and racial remarks.

Historically, minority participation in the fight for independence against the British and the Japanese is well-documented, while Chinese police personnel had also been active participants in anti-communist action.

Ismail’s assertion are also contradicted by academics who previously noted in essays and commentaries that the latter community had also been a major victim of communist violence, which they said was driven primarily by ideology and not race.