BFM 5 hauled up for radio shows on Islam

Five radio presenters from BFM 89.9 will be called by police to facilitate investigations after Muslim groups lodged a report today against the business radio station, demanding that it be probed under the Sedition Act.

Deputy Kuala Lumpur CID chief Assistant Commissioner Khairi Ahrasa said that investigations have been opened under Section 505(c) of the Penal Code on inciting or stirring up prejudicial feelings.

The presenters are Sharaad Kuttan, Umapagan Ampikaipakan, Ezra Zaid, Caroline Oh and Patrick Teoh.

Khairi confirmed that police received a report today lodged by Muslim groups including Malaysia Islamic Consumers Association (PPIM) and Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) at the Dang Wangi police station in the capital.

"We will record the statements from all the deejays who were involved," Khairi told The Malaysian Insider in a text message.

Section 505(c) states that it is a crime to make, publish or circulate any statement, rumour or report with intent to incite, or which is likely to incite, any class or community of persons, or to commit any offence against any other class or community of persons.

If found guilty, the punishment is imprisonment, which may extend to two years, or a fine, or both.

PPIM and Isma's police report was on talk shows broadcasted on December 12, in which they said BFM had "challenged the sovereignty of Islam" by talking about the "Allah" controversy, about wearing the tudung, or Muslim headscarf, and about sacrificial meat.

This police report comes after news that the radio station had been fined RM10,000 over an interview with Iranian-American Muslim scholar Reza Aslan on October 21, 2013, in which he discussed Malaysia's ban on the use of "Allah" by non-Muslims.

Isma vice-president Aminuddin Yahya told Malaysiakini this morning that BFM had a "strategy" to create a "liberal country".

"This is a strategy by the liberals to break apart the racial harmony in Malaysia," he was quoted as saying at the Dang Wangi police station this morning.

"They are trying to destroy the integrity of Islam and create confusion among the people."

PPIM official Mohd Mustaffa Hamzah was also reported as saying that young people would form wrong conclusions about these issues.

"They will begin to hate Islam, the law, the rights of Malays and the New Economic Policy," he said.

The five presenters had been the hosts of the talk shows aired on December 12.

One of the presenters, when contacted by The Malaysian Insider, declined to comment on the police probe until the management had met to discuss the latest development.

The radio station is expected to issue a statement tomorrow. – December 18, 2014.

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