Second police report against Ibrahim Ali

A group of citizens turns the screws on the police and the AG.

PETALING JAYA: A group of citizens today lodged a police report against Ibrahim Ali, increasing pressure on the authorities to act against the Perkasa president for advocating the seizure and burning of Bibles that use Arabic religious terms.

The group of 12, led by human rights lawyer Siti Zabedah Kasim, made the report this morning at the Dang Wangi police station.

It was the second such report against Ibrahim since DAP chairman Karpal Singh lodged his yesterday.

On Monday, Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail said his office would not act against Ibrahim until police reports had been made against him or until Bibles are burnt.

“With this in mind,” Siti said in reference to Gani’s statement, “we—independent Malaysians of various belief and races—have come forward to lodge a police report regarding this very serious matter.”

Siti is a member of the Bar Council’s human rights committee, but she said she was making the report as a private citizen.

She denounced the Perkasa president, saying Malaysians of all creeds believed that his statement was meant to incite hatred and provoke the commission of crimes.

She noted that a group calling itself Pasukan Bertindak Anti Bible Bahasa Melayu had already planned a Bible-burning programme in Butterworth this Sunday.

Ibrahim made his controversial statement on Saturday. According to news report, he said: “Muslims must unite to protect their religion. They must seize those Bibles—including the Malay editions—that contain the term ‘Allah’ and other religious terms in Arabic and burn them.”

Referring to Ibrahim’s statement that he had been misquoted, Siti said this defence was no longer valid because his organisation had subsequently confirmed his words and said it stood by them.

“He said ‘including the Malay editions,’” Siti noted. “This can only mean that the Perkasa president actually called upon the Muslims to burn Bibles in any language, including the Malay editions.”