The church, a branch of another church in Malacca, holds services in Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia for its 200 worshippers from Indonesia.
FMT
KUALA LUMPUR: Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming has pointed out that the police should not have interrupted a service at a church in Kajang, no matter what the complaints, but left the matter to the local council to look into the issues, if any.
It’s said that the police were acting on complaints that the Sunday service at the Bethany Church, a member of the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF), was noisy and moreover was being conducted in a shophouse.
“From what I know, the church is located in a shoplot and there were complaints that it should not be used as a church,” said Ong.
“The police should not have gotten involved as this is a matter for the local council. The police should definitely not interrupt any worship service of any religious group.”
Nelson Sembiling, the church’s Indonesian pastor, disclosed that he was 10 minutes into the sermon on Sunday when he was alerted that two police officers wanted to see him outside the premises.
He advised the police to discuss any complaints with the NECF but they apparently insisted that the church stop the service immediately, failing which they threatened to call their “Inspector”.
The policemen did carry out their threat and contacted their Inspector but, after the call, allowed the church to continue its service “just for today”.
“They said they would be back with letters of complaints that they had received,” said the pastor. “I am not sure what they meant. They said the church had no licence to operate.”
It was learnt that the NECF, the umbrella body for evangelical churches in Malaysia, has advised its member church to lodge a police report on the incident.
The church, a branch of another church in Malacca, holds services in Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia for its 200 worshippers from Indonesia.
Both churches are members of the Gereja Bethel Indonesia and are generally attended by Indonesian Christians in Malaysia.
KUALA LUMPUR: Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming has pointed out that the police should not have interrupted a service at a church in Kajang, no matter what the complaints, but left the matter to the local council to look into the issues, if any.
It’s said that the police were acting on complaints that the Sunday service at the Bethany Church, a member of the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF), was noisy and moreover was being conducted in a shophouse.
“From what I know, the church is located in a shoplot and there were complaints that it should not be used as a church,” said Ong.
“The police should not have gotten involved as this is a matter for the local council. The police should definitely not interrupt any worship service of any religious group.”
Nelson Sembiling, the church’s Indonesian pastor, disclosed that he was 10 minutes into the sermon on Sunday when he was alerted that two police officers wanted to see him outside the premises.
He advised the police to discuss any complaints with the NECF but they apparently insisted that the church stop the service immediately, failing which they threatened to call their “Inspector”.
The policemen did carry out their threat and contacted their Inspector but, after the call, allowed the church to continue its service “just for today”.
“They said they would be back with letters of complaints that they had received,” said the pastor. “I am not sure what they meant. They said the church had no licence to operate.”
It was learnt that the NECF, the umbrella body for evangelical churches in Malaysia, has advised its member church to lodge a police report on the incident.
The church, a branch of another church in Malacca, holds services in Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia for its 200 worshippers from Indonesia.
Both churches are members of the Gereja Bethel Indonesia and are generally attended by Indonesian Christians in Malaysia.
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