KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today said that his speech during a Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) mega rally in Muar was “selectively edited”, after he received public criticism for claiming Jews and Christians are attempting to “Christianise” the country.
The PN chairman did not deny making the remark but said he was commenting on an alleged video clip, and it was unfair to judge him based on a 1:35-minute clip when his speech was 55 minutes long.
“For the record, I was commenting on a video clip that was circulating during this election period where a foreign religious group specifically appeared to be praying for the government to fall into the hands of the opposition. Perikatan Nasional stands for stability, fairness to all and being corruption free,” he said in a statement, but did not provide any details about the purported group.
He claimed his statements were “completely taken out of context” and circulated by PN’s political opponents to tarnish his image and create a false narrative.
“I specifically and unequivocally spoke about the need for political stability, the need to avoid corruption, the need for DAP to show restraint in its demands and to respect the rights of all races in Malaysia including the special rights of the Malays and the Malay rulers.
“In fact, at the 48-minute mark of the speech, I specifically and unequivocally stated the intention of Perikatan Nasional to implement the Shared Prosperity Vision so that no race would be left behind,” he added in the statement, which was released in English.
He said the entirety of his speech was to promote stability, the rule of law, fairness to all races and religions and to uphold the rule of law.
Earlier, the Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM) rejected any covert agenda to “Christianise” the country as alleged by Muhyiddin in the run-up to the 15th general election taking place tomorrow.
CCM general secretary Reverend Jonathan Jesudas said the former prime minister’s remarks that Christians were conspiring with a group of Jews to convert Muslim-majority Malaysia was not only untrue but also irresponsible for an influential person of his standing and wants the authorities to take action.
The Christian Federation of Malaysia also called for action to be taken against Muhyiddin swiftly and effectively so others do not repeat the move.
PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli also vowed that his party will seek to file an election petition against Muhyiddin, if the latter is re-elected as the MP for Pagoh on grounds of deliberately stoking racial sentiments by claiming there were attempts by Opposition-linked Christian groups to proselytise Muslims.
Rafizi said the bid to nullify Muhyiddin’s possible election victory stemmed from the latter’s violation of Section 4(a) of the Election Offences Act over the malicious statement.
