KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 — DAP MP Zairil Khir Johari was made to explain today the secular party’s trip to Jordan and Egypt this week, after Islamist group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) ran an editorial alleging it was another one of DAP’s ploys to recruit and “manipulate” young Malays.
According to the Bukit Bendera MP, the trip to Jordan from Monday until yesterday had included dialogues with academic groups, a visit to a refugee camp and a meeting with Malaysian students in the Arabic kingdom.
“The purpose of this trip was to learn more about the culture and political dynamics in West Asia, especially about the Islamic political movement that is increasingly growing in the region,” Zairil said in a status update on his official Facebook page.
Besides Zairil, other DAP lawmakers in the entourage were Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, Kluang MP Liew Ching Tong and Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim.
Zairil said among the groups and figures the party met with were the Phoenix Centre Jordan and Debate Foundation, Dr Mohammad Abu-Rummah of University of Jordan and Dr Fathi Malkawi from the International Institute of Islamic Thought.
His clarification came after Mohd Firdaus Salleh Hudin, an editor with Isma’s website, penned a commentary on Tuesday expressing his shock that DAP was allowed to meet and socialise with Malaysian students in the two countries, who were mostly Malays.
Firdaus claimed that DAP would have needed the official consent of Malaysian embassies there, or student departments, Education Malaysia Egypt (EME) and Education Malaysia Jordan (EMJ).
The Isma commentary also accused Egypt graduate Zahid M. Naser of using his connection with local Islamist group Ikram to reach out to Malaysian students, a charge Zahid denied in a brief statement today.
“I, Zahid Naser, was the Egypt graduate responsible for accompanying the entourage of DAP leaders for a study of Islamic politics and extremism in the Middle East. No NGO in Egypt or Malaysia has any joint venture with my part,” said Zahid on his Facebook profile.
The Isma commentary also accused the DAP of wanting to “own” religious teachers who graduated from universities in the Middle East, saying again that this was part of the party’s “evil agenda” to lure more Muslims into its fold.
“DAP now ‘owns’ Rara and Dyana Sofya, surely it also wants to ‘own’ religious teachers who graduated from Middle East that can produce opinions and religious decrees that can confuse the public, in order to accomplish its evil agenda,” said the commentary, which cited a Facebook page called “DAP Mesir”, or Egypt DAP.
Syefura Othman, also called Rara, and Dyana Sofya were two of DAP’s Malay women recruits last year. The latter was even fielded as a candidate in the Teluk Intan by-election.
In July last year, Isma vice-president Abdul Rahman Mat Dali accused the opposition party of using nubile Malay members to front a stealthy ruse to advance an anti-Malay, anti-Islam agenda.
“I should not have been shocked because even before this, DAP has ‘hypnotised’ and ‘manipulated’ Malay kids who are unprincipled and have lost their identity to join their camp to fight against the Malays and Muslim camp,” Firdaus added.
Zairil today confirmed that DAP met with Malaysian students from several universities in Jordan.
He, however, refuted that the Facebook page or other similar to it were affiliated with the party, accusing them of having bad intentions to badmouth the party’s visit.
– See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/daps-middle-east-jaunt-worries-malaysian-islamists#sthash.AFK5otmk.dpuf