Police blocking protesters who want to storm a Scottish Masonic conference at a hotel in Batu Feringgi, Penang. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Hasnoor Hussain, February 25, 2016.A group of protesters stormed a hotel in Batu Ferringhi today to stop a Scottish Masonic conference, alleging that the Freemasons involved were linked to Jews, satanic worshippers and conspirators against Islam.
The group of about 20, comprising Malay rights groups such as Persatuan Mukabuku Pulau Pinang, Pekida and Gerakan Merah demanded for the conference to be stopped, which it did later.
Gerakan Merah president Mohd Ali Baharom, better known as Ali Tinju, who led the group, shouted for the International Scottish Masonic Conference 2016 to be stopped immediately, insisting that they were defending Islam.
"Stop the programme. Get out," the group shouted as they marched into the compound of the hotel.
When the police moved in to stop them, the group demanded to see the hotel management.
"I give you 10 seconds to call them out. Otherwise, we have to go in," Jaringan Melayu Malaysia president Azwanddin Hamzah was heard telling the police who stood in his way.
The group blamed the management for allowing the programme, scheduled from today to Saturday, to be held.
They said it was insensitive to Muslims since those involved in the conference were allegedly linked to Jews.
Azwanddin was addressing the small crowd when someone tried to whisked away the hailer he was using. This riled up the crowd and a brief scuffle broke out.
Nobody was hurt and when things calmed down, the group sang a patriotic number, "Inilah Barisan Kita".
The District Grand Lodge of the Middle East (DGLME) district secretary Datuk Dr N. Lakshmanan recently told New Straits Times that the organisation was a legally registered outfit since 1916.
He said attacks on the Freemasons recently were based on wrong information from the Internet.
Ali said they had the right to voice out their feelings and disagreement against the programme.
"They ask us to stop, we also ask them to stop.
"We just want them to stop their programme first," he told the crowd.
A few minutes later, Rizuad Mohd Azuddin, from Penang Perkasa, said four reps from the group had been invited to talk with the hotel management.
After the brief meeting, Rizuad confirmed that the conference had been cancelled.
"We were shown the hall of the conference. It is empty now.
"This won't be the first time we do this. If such events are held again, we will rise to stop them."
He added that the Penang government and DAP must also clarify whether they had sponsored the event.
"We want (Penang chief minister) Lim Guan Eng to answer."
Northeast district police chief ACP Mior Faridalatrash Wahid, his men including those from the light strike force, were present to monitor the incident.
The four-day conference was in conjunction with the 100th year of the DGLME and to raise funds for charities in Penang.
DGLME is among the 26 District Grand Lodges under the main organisation, the Grand Lodge of Scotland, an umbrella body which looks into over 22 lodges in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
DGLME started operations in Kuala Lumpur in 1916.
The Lodge Scotia in Penang, Lodge Tullibardine in Kuala Lumpur, and Lodge Malay in Klang were the first lodges pre-dating the colonial period. – February 25, 2016.
Comments
Please refrain from nicknames or comments of a racist, sexist, personal, vulgar or derogatory nature, or you may risk being blocked from commenting in our website. We encourage commenters to use their real names as their username. As comments are moderated, they may not appear immediately or even on the same day you posted them. We also reserve the right to delete off-topic comments