Ibrahim: Bible-burning call only for Muslim parents

 

Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali has defended his statement calling on Muslims to burn the Bible, by saying that it was only directed to Muslim parents whose children were allegedly given the holy book.

"When a reporter asked me of Perkasa's stand (on the alleged Bible distribution at a school in Penang), I suggested that move (to seize and burn the Bible) so that the children will not be confused and their faith undermined.

"I was only referring to the Bahasa Malaysia bible which has the word 'Allah' in it, which was distributed at the school. I was not referring to all bibles," he was quoted as saying by Utusan Malaysia today.

Ibrahim was reported to have made that statement at a press conference in Penang last year, following claims that the Bahasa Malaysia bible was distributed students, including Muslim students, at a school.

Last week, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri (right) in a parliamentary reply said that Ibrahim will not be charged for his remark as he did not mean to cause religious harmony and was defending the sanctity of Islam.

Following outrage over her reply, the de-facto law minister issued a press statement saying that Ibrahim's statement is in line with Article 11 of the Federal Constitution which bars proselytisation of Muslims.

She also took to Twitter to claim that she never said that Ibrahim was not prosecuted because he was defending Islam.