‘You and your family must die’: Malaysian director hit by death threats as culture war escalates
- Khairi Anwar’s film Mentega Terbang was accused of promoting apostasy and pulled off Hong Kong-based streaming platform Viu
- Communications minister Fahmi Fadzil condemns attack on Khairi and actor Arjun Thanaraju, urges Malaysians not to take matters into their own hands
Observers say Malaysia is sinking into a culture war driven by Malay Muslim politicians and Islamist conservatives, who are pouncing on local films, music and performers they deem to be in contravention of Islamic values.
Director Khairi Anwar is the latest figure to face conservative outrage after his film Mentega Terbang was accused of promoting apostasy.
Early on Thursday he found his car trashed and splashed with paint and what appeared to be a corrosive acid. Messages on pieces of A4 paper said: “Mentega Terbang, don’t challenge Islam”, “Islam shall rise”, and “you and your family must die”.
Khairi told This Week in Asia he was informed of the attack by the management of his housing estate which noticed the blotches of red and black paint on his white Toyota sedan.
“I am doing okay now, but my wife was shaken,” Khairi said.
The director said he also received a text message from the alleged assailant telling him not to insult Islam, and threatening to have him run down on the road “next time”.