Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamed has ticked off Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak for supposedly urging Umno to emulate the terrorist organisation Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (Isis).

“I don’t know what the Malaysian government will do. The other day Najib mentioned that we should copy Isis.

“I don’t know whether he knew what he was saying, but I think if we copy Isis, this country will not be stable. It will be very violent,” he told reporters today.

The octogenarian touched on the topic when asked whether the government should follow Indonesia’s move to ban Isis, also known as Isil.

The Prime Minister’s Office had previously issued a statement claiming that Najib’s speech had been taken out of context.

“The Islamic State in Iraq and The Levant (Isil) was mentioned briefly and in passing, but it is important to note that the prime minister in no way indicated any support for Isil. Any allegation to the contrary is completely false.

“The Malaysian government classifies Isil as a terrorist organisation and we are doing our part to combat them, for example by arresting suspected Isil members in Malaysia,” said the June 26 statement, referring to Isis by an alternative translation of its Arabic name.

Emulate Isis

Prior to that, Najib was reported to have told Umno to emulate Isis’ bravery at a speech in Cheras.

The militant Islamic group is largely active in Syria and Iraq, and has been grabbing international headlines for alleged genocide, and for reportedly routing a much larger Iraqi army from the city of Mosul.

“This is a very dangerous development, because these people are violent and we have seen pictures of them executing people and being very violent.

“There is no place for violence in Islam; Islam is a religion of peace, but some people have interpreted Islam in the wrong way,” Mahathir lamented.