The police decided not to take action against Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali over his call last year to burn copies of the Bible containing the word "Allah" because he was merely defending Islam, a minister has told Parliament.
Nancy Shukri, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of law, said the police concluded that his words were only directed at specific individuals, and not a threat to larger society.
"The statement he made was not intended to cause religious chaos but only to defend the sanctity of Islam," she said in a written parliamentary reply dated yesterday to a question by Bagan MP, Lim Guan Eng, on why Ibrahim had not been charged with sedition.
Lim had asked the prime minister to explain why Ibrahim had not been charged for calling on Muslims to burn Malay-language Bibles containing the word "Allah" and other Arabic words.
Ibrahim's call in January last year prompted outrage from politicians and Christian groups, with critics accusing Putrajaya of double-standards in using the Sedition Act against critics while sparing Ibrahim over his remarks.
Nancy, replying on behalf of the prime minister, said investigations by the police into Ibrahim's statement found that what he had said was aimed at the activities of some individuals who allegedly distributed Christian literature outside a school in Penang.
"The words he uttered were directed at individuals who were distributing Bibles with the word 'Allah' and also Jawi writings to students at Sekolah Menengah Jelutong, Penang, including Malay students," she said, referring to the police's findings.
Lim had also asked why the Sedition Act was still being used despite the government's promise to repeal it in 2012, and wanted to know when it would be repealed, as well as whether it would not be abolished.
In her reply, Nancy referred to a press statement from the Prime Minister's Office on September 12 this year that full consultations would be held before the government decided whether or not to repeal the colonial-era law.
On the number of court cases under the act, she said there had been one each in 2009 and 2011, eight in 2013 and 12 from January to September this year. There were no cases in 2010 and 2012, she added. – October 8, 2014.
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/perkasa-chiefs-bible-burning-call-to-defend-islam-says-minister#sthash.7aJiEeZZ.dpuf
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