King warns Malaysians against taking advantage of ‘Allah’ socks scandal after petrol bomb attack, death threats

Malaysia’s king has called on all parties to stop taking advantage of the controversy over the sale of five pairs of socks bearing the word “Allah”, after an escalation of tension that saw death threats aimed at a politician and an attempt to petrol bomb a supermarket branch narrowly fail.

They deny the charges but have already profusely apologised for allowing the socks to go on sale.

The issue has led to a surge of religious fervour among conservative sections of the Malay Muslim community, amping up racial tensions with the country’s sizeable Chinese and Indian communities that have been simmering since the last general election in 2022.

In a statement on Wednesday, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, who recently took the throne, said there was no need for any party to continue fuelling anger and called on Malaysians to learn from the incident and strive to strengthen unity.

“Persistent anger brings no benefit. All parties, especially community leaders, must act with maturity,” the king said.

This came after Melaka state police on Tuesday announced that they had apprehended a 68-year-old car mechanic for making death threats against Akmal Saleh, the leader of Malay nationalist party Umno’s youth wing who had been at the forefront of the issue, calling for a boycott against the supermarket’s 881 branches nationwide.

“The suspect said that the Umno youth chief is being overboard in the KK Mart issue [and] one day will surely be shot dead,” said district police commissioner Christopher Patit.

Political analysts have panned Akmal, labelling him a “bully” and “rabble-rouser” and accused him of fanning the flames of public anger for the political gain of his party, which has been steadily losing the support of the Malay Muslim electorate.

Th