DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng's political secretary Zairil Khir Johari said today Penang BN chief Teng Chang Yeow is someone who "belittles Islam".

Zairil Khir Johari (2) Responding to Teng's statement that Penang is heading towards Islamisation, Zairil ( right ) said Teng's "frank statement highlights his eagerness to belittle the importance of religion for the sake of narrow-minded politics".

Teng said this yesterday when commenting on the state's the 300 percent increase in allocations for Islamic affairs. He went on to accuse the Penang government of not giving much to the Penang Chinese Town Hall, the organisation that represents the community in the state.

"The people of Penang, especially the Malay community, should ask if they want a chief minister with such a rigid stand," Zairil said.

Teng is tipped to be chief minister if BN takes over Penang in the next general election.

"Although I regret Teng's statement, I am not surprised by it at all. It is just a continuation of BN's strategy to create conflicts among the people, using the selective issues of race and religion.

"Nevertheless, I believe the people are wiser and cannot be baited with such dirty, unprincipled tactics," Zairil said.

Money for Islamic schools, land

He explained that the increase in allocations for Islamic affairs, which included expanding Islamic burial grounds and purchasing land and providing annual allocations for religious schools, was done to raise the dignity of Islam.

Meanwhile, Penang Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) also rebutted Teng's statement and slammed Umno for not educating its component party about Islam.

"SAMM does not think that Umno can be counted on to take care of Islamic affairs in Penang or anywhere else," said the PKR-linked NGO's coordinator Aidil Ibrahim.

Aidil added that Umno failed to defend Islam when the Islamic practice of tutup aurat was ridiculed by Kedah Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang in his Twitter postings recently.

He claimed that this was a two-pronged tactic used by Umno in hope that Gerakan would gain back the support of the non-Malays and Umno would benefit should there be racial or religious disputes.

"This is the advantage race-based parties or racist parties such as Umno bank on," Aidil said.