Jais, cops raid church over multi-racial dinner

By Boo Su-Lyn

August 04, 2011

PETALING JAYA, Aug 4 — The police and Selangor religious authorities raided a multi-racial dinner at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) here last night over an unspecified complaint.

DUMC senior pastor Dr Daniel Ho said about 30 police officers and enforcement officers from the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) entered the church without a warrant at 10pm.

The front of DUMC which was raided by the police and Jais officers on August 3, 2011. — Picture by Boo Su-Lyn

Ho explained that an NGO called Harapan Komuniti had organised an annual thanksgiving dinner at the church, which saw an attendance of between 100 and 120 guests of all races.

“This is a dinner for people to come in the 1 Malaysia spirit,” Ho told The Malaysian Insider late last night.

“They were mainly Christians... there were about 15 or so Malays,” he said.

On its website, Harapan Komuniti describes itself as a non-profit organisation that provides disaster relief and helps single mothers, children and AIDS patients regardless of race.

Ho said the authorities did not arrest anyone, but seized the function’s programme sheets and questioned the dinner organisers and guests.

“(They came in) on the pretext of a complaint and said somebody made a complaint,” said the pastor.

He pointed out, however, that the authorities did not explain what the complaint was.

Last night’s raid in the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state came after Malaysia sealed formal ties with the Vatican last month, seen as a high point in religious relations where Muslims are the majority.

Religious tensions heightened two years ago when the Home Ministry barred Christians from referring to their god as “Allah” in a Catholic newspaper.

In 2009, the High Court allowed the church to use the word, but the case is pending a Home Ministry appeal of the decision.

Several churches across the country were fire-bombed in January last year following the ruling.

Christians, who form 9.2 per cent of Malaysia’s 28.3 million-strong population, were further outraged when the Home Ministry seized 35,100 Malay-language bibles.

The bibles were later released ahead of the Sarawak state election in April on condition that copies in Peninsular Malaysia be marked with a cross and the words “Christian public