“We do not get funds from anywhere. I firmly deny it,” he said in an interview with Sinar Harian. He said that even any money involved was about “small contributions for food and drinks, so therefore there’s no problem”.

Jamal and about 100 supporters went to Malaysiakini on Thursday and demanded that Malaysiakini disclose its financial statements and other documents by noon today. He has threatened to “make sure part of the Malaysiakini office building is torn down” if the company fails to comply.

In the interview with Sinar Harian, he said his movement emerged “to defend religion and nation”.

Jamal said he did not care about federal opposition leaders’ claims that he was causing racial tension by opposing the electoral reform group Bersih. He has said he would organise a counter-rally to the planned Bersih 5 street rally in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 19.

Asked about reports of violence involving Red Shirts supporters, Jamal said his followers had good intentions but claimed they had been provoked by Bersih supporters.

“Each time in meetings with Red Shirts members, I warned our followers, cannot do provoking and physical violence. But when the gathering involves many people, Bersih would surely carry out provocation until it sparked an aggressive response from the Red Shirts group,” he told Sinar Harian.