DAP wants Jais to apologise for illegal raid on Bible Society of Malaysia
The Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) should issue an official apology for raiding the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) today, said DAP.
Party national publicity chief Tony Pua (pic) said the raid on the offices of the BSM clearly infringed the rights of Malaysians to practise religion freely.
Pua said Jais raided the BSM office in Damansara Kim without producing a search warrant or any form of authorisation.
"This raid was not conducted in the spirit of Malaysia's official religion, Islam, and was carried out without any respect for the feelings of other religious communities."
Pua said this was the act of individuals who were extremists, overzealous and misguided.
Speaking to reporters at the Damansara police station, Pua said Putrajaya needs to take a clear stand over the Allah issue, otherwise the situation would deteriorate further.
"Putrajaya started this issue when the Home Ministry issued a ban on Herald, prohibiting the Catholic weekly from using the word Allah," Pua said.
It is time Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak came out and cleared the air over the Allah issue before it gets worse, he added.
Stampin MP Julian Tan Kok Ping, who was also present at the Damansara police station today following the Jais raid, said they were monitoring developments in the Allah issue.
"More than 40% of Sarawak's population are Christian and we are watching the developments on the peninsula closely," he told reporters.
He revealed that there were an estimated 100,000 Sarawakians working in Selangor and Penang respectively and another 50,000 in Penang.
"I hope that Putrajaya will take the appropriate measures to remedy the situation as soon as possible," he added.
BSM chairman Lee Min Choon and the society's manager Sinclair Wong was released on police bail at 4pm after their statements were recorded by the police.
Both Lee and Sinclair have an appointment with Jais at their offices in Shah Alam on Jan 10 to have their statements recorded.
In today's incident, 15 Jais personnel and two policemen went to the BSM office in Damansara Kim and demanded to be let in.
Despite not producing a search warrant or any authorisation letters, the team raided the premises and confiscated more than 300 copies of Alkitab and the Bup Kudus, the Iban bible.
Lee said he and Sinclair had been arrested by Jais under the Selangor non-Muslim Religions (Control of Propagation among Muslims) Enactment 1988. - January 2, 2014.
