Dr M defends Ibrahim's 'burn Bibles' remark

 

Dr Mahathir Mohamad has defended Ibrahim Ali for his controversial "burn Bible" remark, saying it is not seditious.

On the contrary, the former prime minister said, the Perkasa chief was advising "something that is acceptable to Muslims" with regard to the practice of burning old copies of the Al-Quran.

"It was not his (Ibrahim's) intention to provoke clashes between Muslims and non- Muslims," Mahathir told reporters today.

However, Mahathir, who is also the patron of Perkasa, declined to comment on the attorney-general's decision not to prosecute Ibrahim under the Sedition Act for his call to burn the Bible in the Malay language.

The authorities claimed that the statement of Ibrahim (left) was made in defence of Islam, based on complaints that certain quarters had distributed copies of the Bible in the Malay language in a school, including to Muslim students.

Meanwhile, Mahathir said it was common practice for Muslims to burn the Al-Quran, when the copy was old and doing so without ill intentions was not wrong.

"We often burn the Al-Quran, when the Al-Quran is very old. Of course we cannot treat a holy book by throwing it around, so the best solution is to burn," he added.

Therefore, he said it was not an issue for Ibrahim to invite Muslims to burn copies of the Bible if the intention was good.

'Show respect for the Bible'

Nevertheless, Mahathir said Muslims must show respect for the Bible.

"For the Muslims, if they have something or some document which they are averse to, they should not throw it around, they should not throw it on the ground and step on it.   

"They should show respect for the Bible and by burning it the way they burn the Al-Quran, that is permitted," he added.

On the forum, Mahathir said Malaysians can expect to have a female prime minister one day.

"In a democratic country, it is majority support that counts, when a woman gets majority support, she cannot be stopped from becoming prime minister.

"Constitutionally, there are no obstructions, it all depends, in a democratic country, on majority support.

"If she can win a majority of above 50 percent, and your party had elected you as president, then most likely the president of the party, who is a woman, can become prime minister," Mahathir added.