Malaysian rapper Namewee arrested for 'insulting Islam' in music video

The rapper has defended his music video, saying it 'promotes religious harmony'

Namewee (Getty)

A popular Malaysian rapper has been detained for allegedly “insulting” Islam.

Namewee, whose real name is Wee Meng Chee was detained at Kuala Lumpur’s airport after returning from a trip abroad.

Police are reportedly investigating him on suspicion of “defiling a place of worship with intention to insult religion” in connection to his latest single and music video “Oh My God!” and have remanded him for four days.

According to local media reports, the 33-year-old, who has 1.5 million Facebook fans, has been accused of blasphemy by some religious groups for a video released in July for the song which allegedly showed him and his friends in and in front of various places of worship including a mosque.

A version of the video added on Friday, which has already garnered more than 384,000 times, does not appear to show a mosque but shows him in front of a Buddhist temple and in a Christian church.

Representatives for a selection of NGOs and local religious groups reportedly lodged complaints about the singer in response to the song. A representative for the group of NGOs told the BBC: “We had lodged the report based on five characters that were used in the music video which had...uttered the word 'Allah'."

In the song, the rapper mentions “Allah” as well as Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary and uses words such as “Hallelujah”. In 2013, a Malaysian court ruled that non-Muslims cannot use the word ‘Allah’ and it must be exclusive to Muslims.

On Monday, Namewee posted a statement, written in Chinese, to his Facebook page where he defended his song and music video.

“I wrote ‘Oh My God’ to promote religious harmony out of goodwill, the purpose is clear. I did no wrong […] this is my homeland,” he wrote.

This is not the first time, Namewee has been embroiled in controversy in the country having previously been criticised for mocking the national anthem in 2007. He also produced a film that was banned in 2014 for portraying national agencies in a negative way.

Representatives for Namewee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Additional reporting by the Press Association.