On Sunday (22nd October), thousands of Malaysians gathered together at Dataran Merdeka to show their unwavering support for the people of Palestine. The aim of the event, organised by Viva Palestina Malaysia (VPM), MyCARE and non-government organisations (NGO) was to raise awareness about the tragedy that Palestinians have been facing for decades.
However, many, including influencer Ceddy Ang, were unhappy with the organiser, VPM’s chairman Dr. Musa, who allegedly made some unnecessary remarks and even threatened to deport some of the rally’s participants. Here’s what happened:
— Iz (@frfaizz) October 22, 2023
Participants and witnesses took to Twitter to express their frustration, claiming that Dr. Musa had forbidden everyone, specifically Muslims from chanting “Allahu Akhbar” which basically translates to “God is the greatest” during the rally. It was said that his reason was that the event was a unified event and wanted to avoid offending the non-Muslim participants.
In a video posted by a netizen above, the chairman had also compared certain individuals to behaving like Zionists during the event, much to everyone’s shock and disappointment. Other than that, some attendees’ placards mocking certain political leaders were confiscated for the reason that they were too “provocative”. It was also alleged that Dr. Musa threatened a group of Palestinians with deportation if they refused to behave.
Due to this, people have called out VPM for their alleged hypocrisy and censorship. While influencer Ceddy Ang, who was one of the participants, did not witness the alleged incident himself, here’s what he had to say about the whole thing.
In his Tweet, the food vlogger criticised Dr. Musa’s actions saying, “This is terrible! The display of the confiscated placards was not wrong. People have the right to ask ‘Who are [the organiser] trying to protect?’ As for the ‘Allahu Akhbar’ chanting, I thought it was fine. It’s not like non-Muslims were forced to do it as well. No wonder it felt like there were two different rallies by the time I arrived”. In the replies, the public figure also condemned the Viva Palestina’s chairman for comparing some of the attendees to Zionists.
Netizens then showed support for Ceddy’s statement. Many also argued that Dr. Musa’s justifications for the ban and confiscation were unreasonable since everyone had gathered there in support of Palestinians against their oppressors.
According to SinarHarian, Fauziah Mohd Hasan, a member of MyCARE, addressed the restrictions that were placed upon the participants regarding the placards. “The authorities have given instructions for the participants not to show provocative posters. We also want to apologise for any inconvenience as we need to keep the gathering safe so that humanitarian aid efforts are not compromised,” she said.
Dr. Musa has yet to release an official statement regarding the alleged incident.
Sources: Twitter (1)(2)(3), SinarHarian, Facebook
