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PETALING JAYA: The French Embassy in Malaysia has defended French President Emmanuel Macron, saying that his recent comments were not directed at the Muslim community in general, but at the concept of “radical Islamism.”
Macron had earlier this month unveiled a plan to defend France’s secular values against a trend of “Islamist separatism”, describing Islam as a religion “in crisis.” His comments were in response to the beheading of a teacher outside his school after he had shown cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a class on freedom of expression.
In a statement, the embassy said that France had always protected the right to freedom of religion and that the country does not favor or stigmatize any religion.
“The president of the republic did not point to the Muslim community in France at all, but only to the ideology of radical Islamism that should be isolated and fought. This ideology, built on indoctrination and the creation of a counter-society, believes that it is above the laws of the state, ”it reads.
He said Macron had made a clear distinction between the militant, separatist minority and the rest of the French Muslim community.
“Although (Macron) did not express himself on the content of the cartoons, he defended the right to caricature according to the laws of the French Republic.
The embassy added that they had been in contact with local authorities, who assured them that calls to boycott French products would fall on deaf ears in Malaysia.
Previously, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and PAS chief of information Kamaruzaman Mohamad had criticized Macron’s statement, accusing him of “ignorance.”
