Perkasa: We welcome police reports

Ibrahim Ali is unperturbed by any police action as he is more afraid of Allah’s wrath should he fail to protect the sanctity of Islam, says its secretary-general.

KUALA LUMPUR: Perkasa welcomes the numerous police reports lodged against its chief Ibrahim Ali for urging Muslims to burn Malay Bibles written in Jawi which contain the word “Allah”.

“The Perkasa president certainly has nothing to worry about when it comes to those police reports, because the investigations would surely be conducted with truth and justice.

“For Ibrahim Ali, he is far more afraid of Allah should he fail to protect the sanctity of Islam,” Perkasa secretary-general Syed Hasan Syed Ali told FMT in a statement this evening.

Earlier today, Bukit Gelugor MP and DAP chairman Karpal Singh had lodged a police report against Ibrahim for his Bible-burning remarks.

On Saturday, Ibrahim had reportedly said: “Muslims must unite to protect their religion. They must seize those Bibles, including the Malay editions, which contain the term Allah and other Arabic religious words, and burn them.”

Karpal called for Ibrahim to be charged under the Sedition Act 1948, and urged Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail to initiate investigations immediately.

Syed Hasan revealed that the police had already contacted Ibrahim to probe him over the issue following the police reports lodged against him.

“Police investigations will commence in a day or two,” said Syed Hasan.

“I know my president. He dares to take responsibility for his actions. So there is no problem when it comes to him giving his statement once he is investigated.”

‘Ibrahim Ali misunderstood’
Syed Hasan, who was present at the press conference when Ibrahim made the controversial call, also stressed that the latter had been misunderstood.

According to Syed Hasan, Ibrahim had instead said Muslims who received Jawi-scripted Malay Bibles containing the word “Allah” should just burn the book.

His statement was a reference to a police report lodged several days ago for the alleged distribution of English Bibles containing Jawi script and the word “Allah” to high school students in Jelutong.

“…Ibrahim’s statement was just a wake-up call meant to deter any unwanted incidents from happening, such as attacks against the distributors of Jawi-scripted Malay Bibles containing the word ‘Allah’ to Muslim school students,” said Syed Hasan.

“Those distribution efforts were witnessed by Muslims who were very angry by it and perceive it as an attempt to convert Muslims.”

Hence, in an effort to pre-empt physical clashes between people of different faiths over the incident, Ibrahim had instead urged people to “just burn” the Bibles they received, explained Syed Hasan.

“The president is worried that people from different religions in this country may engage in bodily attacks [over the distribution of those Bibles]. That would not be good for the country,” said Syed Hasan.

He also said that the public should remember the Control and Restriction of the Propagation of Non-Islamic religions to Muslims (Malacca) Enactment 1988 and Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution.

“The 1988 enactment prohibits non-Muslims from using the word Allah and other words related to Allah,” said Syed Hasan.

“Section 11 guarantees religious freedom but (4) prohibits any quarters from propogating other religions to Muslims through any means.”

‘Why not report Patrick Teoh, Karpal?’

He added that Karpal’s call to PAS to agree that non-Muslims can use the word “Allah” meant he also supported the concept of an Islamic state as well as hudud, the Islamic criminal law.

“If this is his stance, Perkasa is extremely elated. If not, Karpal is clearly trying to politicise religion for his own political reasons.

“Why didn’t Karpal lodge a police report against Patrick Teoh for insulting Islam as well as those who distributed Malay Bibles with Allah to Muslim students in Penang last week?” said Syed Hasan.

He was referring to actor and former radio deejay Teoh, who was criticised for using vulgar words against Islam and Muslims in his reaction on Facebook to the Kedah government’s announcement of dress and performance guidelines for a Chinese New Year function.

Teoh has since apologised multiple times for his post, and has been questioned by the Malaysian Multimedia and Communications Commission (MCMC) and the police over the matter.

“[Karpal] knows that they clearly violated Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution,” said Syed Hasan.