By Shannon Teoh
KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — A group of 37 Islamic civil societies have lashed out at the federal government for allowing lesbian author Irshad Manji to enter the country and promote her book which the NGOs say is “filled with religiophobia and Islamophobia.”
A joint statement by the Allied Coordinating Committee of Islamic NGOs (ACCIN), Malaysian Islamic NGO Consultative Council (MAPIM) and the Ulama Association of Malaysia (PUM) demanded an explanation from Putrajaya and “a guarantee it will not happen again.”
“We deeply regret the failure of the federal government to bar the entry of Irsyad Manji and the sale and launch of her book ‘Allah, Liberty and Love’... that slanders and insults religion openly.”
They also asked the organisers of Saturday’s book launch, ZI Publications and the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH), to “apologise and explain” why they were “insensitive to the dangers of heightening religiophobia and Islamophobia.”
But they thanked the Selangor administration for blocking Manji, who professes to be a Muslim, from holding promotional events in the state.
Despite the government barring earlier the same day any events involving the lesbian author, her appearance on Saturday to promote her latest book went on without a hitch.
Islamic affairs minister Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom had said that the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) and Home Ministry will not allow any events involving the Ugandan-born Canadian author, saying her lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) ideology contradicts the laws of Malaysia.
The 48-year-old left for New York on Saturday night.