Umno Youth submits memo to French Embassy over Macron’s remarks

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno Youth yesterday submitted a memorandum to French President Emmanuel Macron through a representative of the country’s embassy in Jalan Tun Razak, here, to protest his public remarks on the issue of insulting the Prophet Muhammad and Islam.

Umno Youth exco Ikmal Hazlan Ikmal Hisham said that the memorandum was to request a counter statement from the French government to retract Macron’s statement and apologise to Muslims.

“It is an irresponsible statement linking Prophet Muhammad with extremism and violence.

“We respect ‘freedom of speech’ but it has its limitations,” he told reporters after presenting the memorandum at the French Embassy here.

He said that Macron’s remarks were the biggest insult, especially that Prophet Muhammad’s birthday will be celebrated by Muslims today.

Ikmal Hazlan said that his party respected the diplomatic relations between Malaysia and France and wanted the relationship to continue but the French government must also respect the religion, culture and sensitivity of Muslims.

“We strongly condemn the statement issued by Macron,” he said.

He said that if there was no response from the French government, it would continue to urge people to boycott French products.

Earlier yesterday, Bernama reported that Malaysia expressed grave concern over what it referred to as growing open hostility towards Muslims, and strongly condemned inflammatory rhetoric and provocative acts that seek to defame Islam.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein cited some of these acts as being what the world has recently witnessed in the form of populist speeches and publication of blasphemous caricatures depicting Prophet Muhammad.

Macron’s statement last week was made in response to the murder of a teacher, Samuel Paty, outside his school on the outskirts of Paris earlier this month, after he showed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class while teaching topics relating to freedom of speech. —Bernama