A Malaysian Muslim calls for ‘war’ against non Muslims? During the ‘holy month’ of Ramadan? Wait, I thought only greasy ‘Islamophobes’ incited violence. Anyway, the Malaysian ‘misunderstander’ of the Religion of Peaceâ„¢ who’s ready to go to ‘war’ is not just your average generic jihadist — Senator Ezam Mohammad Nor is a Right Honorable member of the Malaysian parliament and a member of the Malaysian ruling party UMNO. And this Defender of Islam is ready to demonstrate how ‘moderate’ and ‘noble’ Islam really is. Following up on the Malaysian religious police raid on a Malaysian church last week (see also here and here); “Ezam wants to burn down online news portals”, by K Pragalath, Free Malaysia Today, August 12, 2011:
SHAH ALAM: Umno senator Ezam Mohd Nor said he has to come to the defence of Islam and will wage war against those who tarnish the
religion, including burning online news portals.
He also warned Muslim staff of Malaysiakini and Malaysian Insider not to become agents for infidels.
Wait, what could get the ‘peaceful’ Muslims riled up enough to ‘wage war’? Of course, it’s those treacherous infidels. As for how one ‘burns’ an online news portal, this is not really spelled out by the senator. But would these peaceful moderate Muslims be willing to burn down real buildings, along with the people inside? With all the churches that have been targeted by arson attacks in Malaysia in recent years, we should already know the answer to this question.
“Don’t be a (Brutus) for the infidel’s agenda. You can find employment elsewhere,” Ezam said after claiming that these portals showed strong stance against the JAIS action at the Damansara Utama
Methodist Church (DUMC).
“We give you a last warning. If you don’t stop, we”ll burn,” said Ezam, a former ally of Anwar Ibrahim.
And any ensuing violence that results because of this explicit threat will, of course, be entirely the fault of the ‘infidels’.
He also extended his threat to the Muslims who abet the non-Muslims in conversions out of Islam.
“We have no choice but to wage war to protect the Muslim faith,” said
Ezam in front of 500 fellow Muslims at the compound of the Selangor
state mosque in Shah Alam.
On a similar note Ezam told dozens of reporters that Muslims have no issues with non-Muslims.
“We have a problem if the Menteri Besar pawns Islam for votes,” he said in reference to Selangor Menteri Besar, Khalid Ibrahim.
“We have a problem if Shah Alam MP pawns Islam,” Ezam added, and
extended his warning to Selangor’s Christian exco members- Teresa Kok,
Elizabeth Wong, Ronnie Liu and Xavier Jayakumar.
“We have problems with infidels who convert Muslims,” he said.
This threat explicitly targets Christians, and it is not an empty or idle threat. Eight Malaysian churches were burned in 2009 and four more were attacked in 2001; the majority of these cases are unsolved. Somehow I doubt the Buddhists or Taoists were responsible.
A Malaysian Muslim politician makes explicit threats of violence, at a state mosque, in the presence of numerous other politicians, and in front of hundreds of Muslims. Muslims and their friends will of course say this politician is one of the Tiny Minority of Extremistsâ„¢. But how many of these onlookers and worshipers objected to the Senator’s violent message, to the incitement to destroy and possibly kill? Not one.