Perak mufti Harussani Zakaria remain adamant in labelling participants of the protest organised by Gerakan Turun Kos Sara Hidup (Turun) as "bughah (rebels)" and can be killed by Muslims.
 
In an interview published by Malay daily Sinar Harian today, the mufti said he would not bow to pressure to resign.
 
"I will not resign and bow to all those condemnations. I will continue to fight for Islam and I do not fear any malicious statements thrown against me," he was quoted saying.
 
He said his controversial statement is based on a verse 9 of the Quran’s surah al-Hujurat, which calls on factions amongst believers to make peace with one another, but fight factions that are oppressing another.
 
"This group intends to topple the government following the increasing cost of living. Since they want to topple the government, therefore I related this with (the verse).
 
"The goal of 'toppling the government' has changed to 'Turun' since it did not get support, but although they have changed the name, the intent remains the same," he said.

He added that he had labelled the protesters as bughah and can be killed (halal darah) because the protesters put the lives of others in danger and are intent of toppling the government.

'Talk to PM instead'

To make his point, Harussani points out that the police had allegedly found machetes and homemade bombs believed to be intended to be used at the rally.

He also said the demonstration would not solve any problems, and the protesters should hand a memorandum to the prime minister instead.
 
Organisers of the rally had previously denied allegations that it intends to topple the government or use violence, dismissing it as a scare tactic to discredit the movement similar to those used in the run-up to the 2011 Bersih 2.0 rally and 2012 Bersih 3.0 rally.
 
The claim that police had recovered a bomb intended for the rally was published on Utusan Malaysia on the day of the rally without citing any sources, whereas the police’s own Facebook post regarding the bomb did not link it to the rally.
 
The peaceful rally on Dec 31 at Dataran Merdeka drew some 10,000 protesters before dispersing just after midnight on New Year’s Day.
 
When Harussani was asked whether the accusations that his statement was unwise because the demonstration was not what it was portrayed to be, Harussani replied, “Many people have thrown accusations against me, but I don’t care because I speak based on the al-Quran.”