ISLAM Defenders’ Associations (PEMBELA) chairperson Aminuddin Yahaya has clarified that the Malay Civilisation Day planned for July 30 was not in response to the Bon Odori festival held in Malaysia recently.
Aminuddin told Malaysiakini that the Malay Civilisation Day was planned long before, and its goal was to revive Malay culture.
“It is a coincidence that Bon Odori was held (last weekend). That’s all. The Malay Civilisation Day is not a gathering but a festival, similar to Jom Heboh, more or less,” he told the news portal.
“Bon Odori was not a gathering or a protest either. (Our event) is to remind (the public) of Malay culture through silat, gasing, puisi and sajak. (Our event) will also help (the Malays) economically through the sales of busana, tanjak and keris.”
On July 20 Aminuddin expressed his shock to see 35,000 people celebrating the Bon Odori Festival whom he said were mostly Malay-Muslims, even though the asatizah (religious teachers) group, including the religious authorities and the mufti, forbade it.
In his Facebook post, he had argued that Bon Odori contained elements of syirik (idolatry) and expressed his disbelief at Muslim leaders who celebrate and promote the event ostensibly out of the spirit of culture, unity and harmony even though the festival does not celebrate the races in Malaysia.
Speaking to the news portal, Aminuddin said that the Malay Civilisation Day event would include an Islamic exhibition with never-seen-before artefacts.
“For example, Malays were great seafarers with sailing vessels that were better than the West (at a time). People don’t know that nor the fact that Malay tin miners were very famous before the arrival of Chinese miners,” he was quoted as saying.
Another highlight of the event will be the silat exhibition which will involve the producers and actors from the film “Mat Kilau”.
“We will also have dance performances – not those nonsense dances, but Malay dances,” he said, adding that the event would even draw tourists.
He also assured that the event was not racist in nature but was rather a celebration of Malay culture. – July 22, 2022
Photo credit: Suara Merdeka
