Boycott Dutch products, say consumer groups

The Star, Tuesday April 1, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR: The Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia has called on Muslims to boycott Dutch-made products to protest against the screening of anti-Islam film Fitna by Dutch legislator Geert Wilders.

The association, together with the NGO Consultative Council and the Muslim Restaurants Association of Malaysia, said in a statement that the video “openly insulted the Quran.”

Such an irresponsible act could affect world peace and relations between religious groups and Muslim consumers should object to the act, it said.

“We believe the boycott will send a clear message to people not to play with the sensitivities of Muslims,” it said.

The PAS Central Youth Council also called for a boycott of Dutch products, saying that it condemned the screening of the film and demanded immediate action by the producer to retrieve it.

In Malacca, Malay Islamic World Secretariat chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam described the filmmaker as “uncivilised” and “insane” as his actions may result in losses and harm to innocent people affected by the film.

He said the secretariat was expected to send a protest note to the Dutch Embassy over the film.

He supported moves by companies here to initiate legal action against Wilders if they suffered losses following a call to boycott Dutch products by Muslim consumers.

In Nilai, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi urged Muslim intellectuals and youths who have been campaigning for the Opposition through the Internet to show their indignation against the film through the medium.

“They should take advantage of their resourcefulness and skills which they had used against the establishment, this time to defend Islam,” he told reporters after opening the National Fatwa Council meeting.

Wilders had launched the film on the Internet after Dutch distributors refused to release it on Thursday.

The Malaysian National Islamic Students Association has sent a protest note to the Dtuch government, expressing its disappointment over the film.