(Bloomberg) — Attacks on a Malaysian convenience store chain over an insult to Islam have the potential to rock Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s fragile coalition in the Muslim-majority nation.
Three KK Super Mart stores were hit with molotov cocktail explosives after calls for boycotting the chain over the sale of socks bearing the word “Allah” turned violent in recent days.
That prompted the secular Democratic Action Party, a key partner of Anwar’s alliance, to issue calls for harmony in the Southeast Asian nation.
Police said they have stepped up patrols around all KK Super Mart outlets after the attacks, and are investigating a political party leader for sedition. But the events underscored the delicate balance that Anwar must maintain between not wanting to upset the country’s majority Muslims and retaining support of key political allies who help prop up his administration.
“This is a slippery slope down lawlessness which none of us want to see,” said Helen Ting Mu Hung, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Malaysia. “Inappropriate handling of such highly publicized and sensitive incidents could have long term political ramifications.”
Anwar rose to power in 2022 promising to temper religious and racial tensions following a divisive general election that led to a right-wing Islamist party gaining the most seats. Since then he’s taken on more pro-Islamic views to appeal to ethnic Malays who are Muslim by law.
At the same time, he can’t afford to ignore calls from DAP, whose top leaders are mostly ethnic Chinese, and the Borneo-based United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation. Without the DAP’s 40 lawmakers, Anwar’s alliance is bound to slip below the 112 seats required for a simple majority in the 222-member parliament.
Any escalation of violence meanwhile risks distracting the government from the economy and hamstringing its efforts to stimulate growth. Malaysia, whose A3 credit score at Moody’s Ratings is the highest among peers in developing Southeast Asia, needs to attract foreign investment in high-value industries to support stronger economic expansion.
The attacks have rocked the usually peaceful multi-ethnic nation, with simmering tensions bound to make investors nervous.
Police said on Friday they were investigating a youth chief from the United Malays National Organisation, another member of the ruling coalition, under the Sedition Act and Communications and Multimedia Act. This was after an UMNO leader said he would continue his boycott against KK Super Mart over the socks, placing the party at odds with Anwar’s other allies.
UMNO had amplified the outcry against the chain after the socks were discovered at its stores several weeks ago. KK Super Mart said it wasn’t aware the socks, manufactured in China, would have the word Allah printed on them and immediately pulled them from the shelves. It found 14 pairs of the offending items among thousands in stock.
DAP Chairman Lim Guan Eng, in a Facebook post, cited the UMNO’s continued boycott of the supermart as a reason for the government to step in to “prevent any fueling of anger to spiral dangerously out of control.”
Police have yet to arrest the perpetrators of the petrol bomb attacks, though the cabinet agreed action should be taken, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution said on Thursday. Meanwhile, executives from the supermart and its supplier were charged in court with hurting religious feelings on March 26 for the sale of the socks, while its founder and CEO had an audience with the king on Wednesday to apologize over the matter.
Malaysia’s King Ibrahim Iskandar said KK Super Mart should have been more careful about the products it sells, and added that he didn’t want the issue to be prolonged. “Again, I stress that no party should take advantage of this matter, including inciting the people,” he said on social media.
Anwar last week urged the public not to take matters into their own hands, and said that police have been instructed to make no compromises on those who commit violence. But his allies expect more from the leader.
“PM Anwar Ibrahim, this is the time for leadership. Get tough on democratic terrorists. Enough of moral persuasion. Actions please,” said Wilfred Madius Tangau, a Sabahan lawmaker and former president of UPKO.
The current situation doesn’t reflect well on Anwar and has left his support base demoralized, according to Wong Chin Huat, political analyst at Sunway University.
“Anwar has been a great letdown for many middle ground Malaysians,” he said. “His inaction has made him look like a weak and ineffective leader, held at ransom by a junior politician from his junior partner.”
–With assistance from Ram Anand.
(Updates with information on police arrest in fourth and 10th paragraphs.)
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