Police in Malaysia reported that on Saturday, a Molotov cocktail was thrown inside a convenience shop chain after its top executives were accused of offending religious sentiments by selling socks with the word “Allah” emblazoned on them.
Muslims have taken to social media to express their displeasure over photos of socks that were for sale at a KK Supermart store. They find it disrespectful that Allah, the Arabic name for God, is associated with feet.
In Malaysia, where two-thirds of the 34 million people are Muslim ethnic Malays, religion is a touchy subject due to the sizeable ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.
Along with three officials of its supplier, KK Supermart founder and chairman Chai Kee Kan and his wife Loh Siew Mui, a director of the company, were charged on Tuesday with inciting religious grievances, according to state news agency Bernama. Each entered a not guilty plea.
Wan Mohamad Zahari Wan Busu, the chief of Kuantan police, told Reuters over the phone on Saturday that a Molotov cocktail struck a KK Supermart store in the Kuantan district of the eastern state of Pahang shortly before daybreak.
According to Bernama, it was the second incident of that kind after a gasoline bomb was hurled into a different KK Supermart store in the state of Perak on Tuesday.
According to Wan Mohamad Zahari, police were searching the neighborhood and reviewing closed-circuit television footage for evidence even though they had not yet named a suspect in the incident on Saturday.
Police, he claimed, “are still investigating,” but they believe the attack was related to the selling of the socks.
Media reports state that although several shop merchandise caught fire as a result of the attack, store employees swiftly put out the flames.
The second-biggest chain of mini-markets in the nation, KK Supermart, issued an apology for the socks and stated that it took prompt action to halt sales.
Additionally, it filed a lawsuit against the socks’ supplier, claiming sabotage and harm to its reputation.
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