Umno Youth has joined the chorus of condemnations against Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s for purportedly putting his name in place of the King during Friday prayers at several mosques in Penang.

utusan guan eng sermon 200810Commenting on Utusan Malaysia’s front-page report today, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said that if the allegations were true, then Lim was "power crazy".

Khairy's statement comes amidst denials by Penang exco member in charge of religious affairs Abdul Malik Abul Kassim and Lim himself.

Abdul Malik said this morning that initial investigations showed evidence can be found in the text of the sermons, which is prepared by the state religious affairs department.

Lim said yesterday that it was “impossible” that an imam (leader of the congregation) would do such a thing.

In his blog posting today, Khairy accused Lim of trying to portray himself as afdal (better than) in comparision with the King, who is the head of religion in federated states such as Penang.

“In light of this, Umno Youth (Malaysia) is urging that investigation be carried out immediately on the matter,” said Khairy, who is Rembau (Umno) parliamentarian.

“If this incident had really happened, we condemn and reject the move to replace the King's name, because it does not only insult the royal institution as the head of religion but also the sanctity of the mosque by using it as a political channel to glorify Lim,” he added.

The controversy started when Penang Umno chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi claimed that the name-switching had occurred last week at several mosques in Tasek Gelugor, Permatang Pauh and Jelutong.

Ahmad Zahid, who is also Defence Minister, added that this would constitute an insult to the Conference of Rulers, after chairing a meeting in Kepala Batas.

He added that no police report had been made so far but there was "sufficient evidence" available.