Mujahid’s statement on Xinjiang has embarrassed country, Islam, says Khaled Nordin

Uighurs attending a class in Xinjiang in a ‘training centre’. This picture was uploaded to Facebook during Mujahid Yusof Rawa’s visit. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: Umno claims Mujahid Yusof Rawa’s use of the term “training centre” when referring to a controversial camp set up to “re-educate” Muslims in Xinjiang has embarrassed Muslims and the nation.

Umno vice-president Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the statement by the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of religious affairs illustrated how backward Pakatan Harapan’s stand was regarding the human rights of the minority Islamic community in Xinjiang.

“Mujahid’s use of the term ‘training centre’ is an endorsement of the Muslim oppression policy in Xinjiang.

“Similarly, he’d described the report on the persecution of Muslims in China as ‘false news from China’ when speaking at the Bejing Foreign Studies University,” Khalid said in a statement today.

Mujahid had previously shared on Facebook about his visit to the “training and vocational centre for the Uighur society”, which is a term used by Beijing to “re-educate” thousands of Muslims criticising China’s policies in Xinjiang.

According to Mujahid, the centre carried out “industrial training” activities, such as sewing. He ended his statement with the hashtag #RahmatanLilAlamin.

Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

Khaled, however, said there were no “training centres” in Xinjiang and these were actually “concentration camps” with the purpose of eliminating the identity, beliefs and cultures of minorities, such as the Uighurs, Kazakhs, Tajiks and others.

He said Mujahid should have instead conveyed his sense of concern, regret and protests of the Muslims in Malaysia and the world over on what is happening in Xinjiang.

“But what happened was that he gave his ‘consent’ to a systematic repression policy against minorities, especially the Uighurs in Xinjiang,” he said.

Earlier, Amnesty International Malaysia had expressed its deep disappointment with the statement on the “re-education camps”.

“Amnesty International has first-hand knowledge that the Chinese authorities have detained Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims – outside any legal process – in ‘political education’ camps for their perceived disloyalty to the government and Chinese Communist Party,” it said.

Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa, of the Islamic Renaissance Front, had also questioned Mujahid’s use of the phrase “vocational and training institution”.

“Surely Mujahid must have been a victim of the Communist China propaganda,” Farouk told FMT. - FMT