Umno politicians made anti-royal remarks but faced zero action, says PAS lawmaker

A PAS lawmaker today brought out several newspaper cuttings from 1983 containing statements from Umno politicians who had demanded investigations against royalty, and asked why none was ever charged with sedition.

In Parliament today, Sepang MP Hanipa Maidin showed newspaper clippings from Umno mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia, bearing headlines which called for investigation into the properties owned by royalty back then.

One headline from the daily read "Umno diminta siasat harta raja2".

"However, until today, no one has been charged for these statements," Hanipa said during debate on Budget 2015.

"But Shah Alam MP (PAS's Khalid Samad) just said something minor and he was charged immediately."

Khalid was charged in August over remarks he had made on the Selangor Sultan and the Selangor Islamic Affairs Council (Mais).

Khalid had, on June 26, called for the Enactment on Islamic Laws Administration (Enactment No. 3, 1952) and the Islamic Religion Administration Enactment 2003 to be reviewed.

He made the call after Mais failed to follow the attorney-general’s decision that the Iban and Malay-language Bibles seized by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) be returned to The Bible Society of Malaysia.

On July 15, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah said Khalid was rude for questioning his position as the head of Islam in the state.

Hanipa said the failure of authorities to act against Umno for its remarks towards royals but its vigour in hauling the current opposition to court was proof that there was discrimination and selective prosecution.

"The government is abusing the Sedition Act and is practising double standard in prosecuting when it comes to the opposition.”

He said this while responding to Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen, who was debating Budget 2015, where the latter criticised Putrajaya for defending Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali, who had threated to burn Bibles containing the word "Allah".

Last week, Nancy Shukri, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of law, said no action would be taken against Ibrahim as he was merely defending Islam and that his words were only directed at specific individuals, and not a threat to larger society.

"The issue here is why are many opposition politicians being charged while Ibrahim Ali is not? As a lawyer myself, it is so obvious that this was a crime.

"Not charging him is one thing but saying that his threat was because he wanted to defend Islam is even worse. Where in our constitution does it say that burning Bibles means defending Islam?" he asked.

Earlier, Khalid irked Sabah and Sarawak MPs from BN component parties when he accused them of "keeping quiet" over Putrajaya's defence of Ibrahim.

"This is BN's political game. Although Ibrahim Ali is not from Umno or BN, he is protected by them.

"But I am shocked that the BN component parties in Sabah and Sarawak are keeping quiet about this. How can they keep supporting BN who also abuse and taint the name of Islam?"

At this point, Deputy Rural Development Minister Datuk Alexender Nanta Linggi (BN- Kapit) interjected and denied that the component parties were shying away from the issue.

"We are not keeping quiet. Our Sarawak chief minister has done so many things about this. Christians in Sarawak can use the word ‘Allah’ and the state government has banned Ibrahim Ali from entering the state," he said.

"We are not keeping quiet but we also don't want to politicise the matter. We don't want this to lead to unrest in the country. We are more disciplined because we love the country."

Datuk Dr Marcus Mojigoh (BN-Putatan) then stood up and accused Khalid of trying to stir controversy in the house in order to be a hero.

"During the last election, the opposition went around, showing voters pictures where a vote for BN equalled a Bible being burnt.

"But now I ask, have any Bibles been burnt? Are there any such cases?" – October 14, 2014.

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