The law says Ibrahim Ali made the remark to burn Bibles only in the context of a particular incident.
FMT
KUALA LUMPUR: The Attorney-General’s Chambers has said it could not prosecute Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali for sedition despite him threatening to burn Malay language Bibles simply because he acted within the confines of the law.
Ruling that the threat was made in the context of a particular incident, the AGC said, ”Ibrahim Ali made the statement in the context of the SMK Jelutong incident.”
“As decided by the courts, before a statement is deemed to have seditious tendencies, the statement must be seen as a whole and cannot be separated from the context.”
The AGC therefore ruled that Ibrahim’s statement did not fall into the category of having seditious tendencies as it was restricted to that one particular incident.
Another aspect of the ruling was that Ibrahim had clearly no intention to create religious discord but was only doing his part in defending the sanctity of Islam.
The statement read, ”The free distribution of the Bible outside the compound of SMK Jelutong could have potentially shaken the faith of Muslim students who lacked religious knowledge if they had read it because the holy books were printed in Jawi.”
On the issue of prosecution under Section 504, Section 298 and Section 298A of the Penal Code, the AGC explained that this law did not apply simply because Ibrahim was defending Islam.
According to the statement issued by the AGC, Section 504 refers to an insult with intent to provoke a breach of peace while Section 298 is on uttering words with deliberate intend to wound religious feelings. Section 298A on the other hand concerned causing disharmony, disunity, enmity, hatred or ill-will, all of which was not Ibrahim Ali’s intention.
The statement also said that the AGC decided to close the case not only on Ibrahim but the “three suspects” distributing the Bibles as well.
The statement read, ”Investigations showed the suspects did not have the intention to distribute them to Malay students only” leaving the AGC with no cause to prosecute any party involved in this case.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Attorney-General’s Chambers has said it could not prosecute Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali for sedition despite him threatening to burn Malay language Bibles simply because he acted within the confines of the law.
Ruling that the threat was made in the context of a particular incident, the AGC said, ”Ibrahim Ali made the statement in the context of the SMK Jelutong incident.”
“As decided by the courts, before a statement is deemed to have seditious tendencies, the statement must be seen as a whole and cannot be separated from the context.”
The AGC therefore ruled that Ibrahim’s statement did not fall into the category of having seditious tendencies as it was restricted to that one particular incident.
Another aspect of the ruling was that Ibrahim had clearly no intention to create religious discord but was only doing his part in defending the sanctity of Islam.
The statement read, ”The free distribution of the Bible outside the compound of SMK Jelutong could have potentially shaken the faith of Muslim students who lacked religious knowledge if they had read it because the holy books were printed in Jawi.”
On the issue of prosecution under Section 504, Section 298 and Section 298A of the Penal Code, the AGC explained that this law did not apply simply because Ibrahim was defending Islam.
According to the statement issued by the AGC, Section 504 refers to an insult with intent to provoke a breach of peace while Section 298 is on uttering words with deliberate intend to wound religious feelings. Section 298A on the other hand concerned causing disharmony, disunity, enmity, hatred or ill-will, all of which was not Ibrahim Ali’s intention.
The statement also said that the AGC decided to close the case not only on Ibrahim but the “three suspects” distributing the Bibles as well.
The statement read, ”Investigations showed the suspects did not have the intention to distribute them to Malay students only” leaving the AGC with no cause to prosecute any party involved in this case.
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