As ‘Allah’ socks row persists, Saifuddin says Home Ministry to chase down groups orchestrating unrest

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PUTRAJAYA, April 4 — Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution today said the Cabinet has directed his ministry to investigate incendiary “trends” from a group that could threaten peace in the country, amid simmering tensions over the “Allah” socks incident.

He said this would include having the relevant authorities take action against those who cross “red lines”.

“The discussion at the Cabinet yesterday, the home ministry is required to look at the trend of sedition, trends that are of the nature of organising violence, actions that can trigger a situation that jeopardises peace…” the minister said.

He said that there was an apparent group working to cause anxiety among the public through “extreme incitement”, adding that they were not the same as those committing the violence.

Yesterday, His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia reminded all parties against taking advantage of the situation that was triggered by the “Allah” socks issue.

Later the same day, Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh insisted on continuing his call to boycott KK Mart, and argue that his boycott was not an express call to violence.

After socks printed with the Arabic word for “Allah” were found for sale at a KK Mart outlet in Selangor last month, Dr Akmal launched a boycott against the convenience chain.

When he received the Umno supreme council’s endorsement over his position later, Dr Akmal told KK Mart to find a new line of business as he did not intend for the boycott to end.

Shortly after, however, KK Mart outlets began coming under arson attacks, starting with one in Perak.

On Sunday, a third such outlet was targeted with Molotov cocktails, this time in Sarawak that is considered among the country’s remaining bastions of multiculturalism.