KUALA LUMPUR – A tweet from former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was flagged by Twitter today for glorifying violence and has since been deleted:
The tweet was the 12th out of a series of 13 in response to comments made by French President Emmanuel Macron, after a teacher was beheaded by a Muslim student for showing a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.
Dr Mahathir, in a post on his blog, where the series of tweets can be seen in full, strongly criticised the French response to the killing.
"(French President Emmanuel) Macron is not showing that he is civilised," Dr Mahathir said. "He is very primitive in blaming the religion of Islam and Muslims for the killing of the insulting school teacher."
Bringing up the often bloody history of France, in which violence was carried out against Muslims many times, the elder statesman said Muslims by and large did not blame the French people.
“It is not in keeping with the teachings of Islam. But irrespective of the religion professed, angry people kill.
"Since you have blamed all Muslims and the Muslims’ religion for what was done by one angry person, the Muslims have a right to punish the French.
"The boycott cannot compensate the wrongs committed by the French all these years," he added.
Today, an apparent terrorist attack struck the French city of Nice, claiming the lives of three and injuring several others.
Macron's comments have sparked a furore around the Islamic world, with many nations calling for a boycott of French goods.
PAS, Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM), and Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) have joined the calls for a boycott of goods.
A statement from the Perikatan Nasional government condemned Macron.
Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim also said that freedom of speech is an essential value of Islam and accused the French president of Islamophobia. – The Vibes, October 29, 2020
