PAS Youth chief calls out Nga over criticism of Hamas-inspired costume at school

KUALA LUMPUR: PAS Youth chief Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden is questioning why Chinese vernacular schoolchildren can wear costumes with replicas of weapons while Hamas-inspired costumes worn during Palestine Solidarity Week are considered extreme.

The Alor Setar MP also called out Cabinet member Nga Kor Ming over a post on the latter’s X account that depicted two pupils wearing a face-covering mafla while holding replicas of firearms and stated, “Schools are not the place for conflict, extremism, and terrorism.”

“Was he (Nga) referring to the costumes (worn by the children)? If yes, how about school programmes held in several SJKC (Chinese vernacular schools), where students freely wear costumes with weapons such as Japanese samurai?” Afnan Hamimi questioned.

“We have never questioned this and said it was extreme, but why, when it comes to pupils wearing clothes resembling Hamas fighters, are they considered extreme?” he continued, speaking to reporters at the media room in the Parliament building on Wednesday (Nov 1).

Afnan Hamimi demanded an explanation from the Local Government Development Minister, claiming that Nga’s statement contradicted Malaysia’s stance of not recognizing Hamas as terrorists, unlike several other countries.

“If Nga is saying Hamas is a terrorist organization, that would contradict the Prime Minister’s statement, who said Malaysia will not consider Hamas a terrorist group,” Afnan Hamimi stated. “The public knows that this conflict goes beyond religion; it is a humanitarian crisis. I hope such a misunderstanding can be fixed, especially for a minister. I also hope the minister can provide an explanation,” he added.

Several individuals, including Umno Youth chief Dr. Akmal Saleh, have posed the same questions to Nga on social media. Dr. Akmal shared a screenshot of a now-deleted post by a Chinese school’s account showing its pupils wearing costumes while holding samurai swords, asking, “How about this? Is this not extremism and terrorism?”