Jais SOP revised, must refer to exco

Selangor Islamic Department (Jais) must hold discussions with the state exco before taking action on matters concerning religious sensitivities in the future, said Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

 

He said that this was necessary to ensure that there will be no communication problems.

 

"It depends on the sensitivity (of the issue). If it is about a raid, it must be discussed (with the exco). If they are nabbing people for not fasting (during Ramadhan), then there is no need to discuss," he said.

 

Khalid said this when announcing revisions to Jais' standard operating procedure (SOP) following its raid on the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) headquarters on Jan 1.

 

About 300 copies of the Bible in the Malay language and 10 copies of the Bible in the Iban language was confiscated while two BSM officials were arrested.

 

BSM claimed that the raid was in violation of the 10-point solution cobbled by Putrajaya in 2011 and that their arrest was illegal because Jais only has jurisdiction on Muslims.

Inter-faith discussions

 

The state cabinet, including Sallehen Mukhyi who is in charge of Muslim affairs, had only learned about the raid from the press.

 

Khalid's announcement today was made after chairing a record setting eight hour state cabinet meeting.

Khalid said the new SOP took effect today to avoid possible controversies from happening.

 

"The state government will continue to hold discussions with the Selangor Islamic Council (Mais) and Jais to ensure that future enforcement efforts be conducted in a proper manner," said Khalid.

 

He added that the state government will hold discussions with heads of various religions to clarify certain issues regarding the Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988.

 

Meanwhile, Sallehen, who was also at the press conference, said that he will not be offering any further comment regarding the raid in view of ongoing police investigations on the matter.

 

He also did not provide futher details regarding Jais' revised SOP.