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In a statement, Raja Bahrin said university students and youths had made their voices heard on the 1MDB issue through Saturday’s Tangkap Malaysian Official 1 (TMO1) rally, despite not having much resources.
The students, he said, had a right to speak out as they faced many challenges, such as lesser government aid, scholarships, student loans and rising costs of living, at a time when the nation’s leaders were enjoying a life of luxury and RM42 billion had been lost through 1MDB.
“The young have spoken up. Why have the religious class ‘retired’ from their duties?”
The Kuala Terengganu MP said the younger generation put a lot of hope in the ulamas and religious class to save them.
Recently, he said, National Dakwah Council Chairman Dr Mahmood Zuhdi Ab Majid had lamented why religious figures and ulamas were blamed for supposedly closing one eye to the 1MDB controversy.
“We are not accusing them of closing one eye, but both eyes,” he said, pointing to the silence on the 1MDB controversy as well as the religious class’ failure to defend Asri, who was recently attacked for supposedly supporting the TMO1 rally in a social media post.
Asri had been recently attacked by Umno Veterans’ Association Secretary Mustapha Yaakub, who urged the Perlis government to reconsider Asri’s appointment as mufti.
“While there are calls to sack Asri as mufti for speaking out, where are the voices of the ulama to defend him?
“Once more the mute syndrome has afflicted the religious class while their colleague is oppressed.”
He also questioned if the religious class were only willing to be “yes men”, and said those entrusted with duties must carry them out.
On Saturday, some 2,000 people took to the streets demanding the arrest of the unnamed “Malaysian Official 1” as mentioned in the United States’ Department of Justice’s civil suits for the seizure of assets purchased using billions of dollars allegedly siphoned from 1MDB.
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